Medical Genetics Some simple sequence families form the basis for DNA fingerprinting. These families are called minisatellites Minisatellites have a repeat unit length of 15-100bp and a total array length of 0.5 to 30 kb. The short array length is the reason they are called minisatellites to distinguish them from normal satellite DNA which has array lengths in the range of a few hundred kbMedical Genetics Some simple sequence families form the basis for DNA fingerprinting. These families are called minisatellites. Minisatellites have a repeat unit length of 15-100bp and a total array length of 0.5 to 30 kb. The short array length is the reason they are called minisatellites to distinguish them from normal satellite DNA which has array lengths in the range of a few hundred kb