scholarly journals Somatic mutations and genome stability maintenance in clonal coral colonies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elora H. López ◽  
Stephen R. Palumbi
Keyword(s):  
Loss Of Heterozygosity ◽  
Genome Stability ◽  
Mutation Frequency ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Somatic Cells ◽  
Genome Maintenance ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
The Face ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

AbstractOne challenge for multicellular organisms is maintaining genome stability in the face of mutagens across long life spans. Imperfect genome maintenance leads to mutation accumulation in somatic cells, which is associated with tumors and senescence in vertebrates. Colonial reef-building corals are often large, can live for hundreds of years, rarely develop recognizable tumors, and are thought to convert somatic cells into gamete producers, so they are a pivotal group in which to understand long-term genome maintenance. To measure rates and patterns of somatic mutations, we analyzed transcriptomes from 17-22 branches from each of four Acropora hyacinthus colonies, determined putative single nucleotide variants, and verified them with Sanger resequencing. Unlike for human skin carcinomas, there is no signature of mutations caused by UV damage, indicating either higher efficiency of repair than in vertebrates, or strong sunscreen protection in these shallow water tropical animals. The somatic mutation frequency per nucleotide in A. hyacinthus is on the same order of magnitude (10−7) as noncancerous human somatic cells, and accumulation of mutations with age is similar. Unlike mammals, loss of heterozygosity variants outnumber gain of heterozygosity mutations about 2:1. Although the mutation frequency is similar in mammals and corals, the preponderance of loss of heterozygosity changes and potential selection may reduce the frequency of deleterious mutations in colonial animals like corals. This may limit the deleterious effects of somatic mutations on the coral organism as well as potential offspring.

scholarly journals Somatic Mutations and Genome Stability Maintenance in Clonal Coral Colonies

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 828-838
Author(s):  
Elora H López ◽  
Stephen R Palumbi
Keyword(s):  
Loss Of Heterozygosity ◽  
Genome Stability ◽  
Mutation Frequency ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Somatic Cells ◽  
Genome Maintenance ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
The Face ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

Abstract One challenge for multicellular organisms is maintaining genome stability in the face of mutagens across long life spans. Imperfect genome maintenance leads to mutation accumulation in somatic cells, which is associated with tumors and senescence in vertebrates. Colonial reef-building corals are often large, can live for hundreds of years, rarely develop recognizable tumors, and are thought to convert somatic cells into gamete producers, so they are a pivotal group in which to understand long-term genome maintenance. To measure rates and patterns of somatic mutations, we analyzed transcriptomes from 17 to 22 branches from each of four Acropora hyacinthus colonies, determined putative single nucleotide variants, and verified them with Sanger resequencing. Unlike for human skin carcinomas, there is no signature of mutations caused by UV damage, indicating either higher efficiency of repair than in vertebrates, or strong sunscreen protection in these shallow water tropical animals. The somatic mutation frequency per nucleotide in A. hyacinthus is on the same order of magnitude (10−7) as noncancerous human somatic cells, and accumulation of mutations with age is similar. Loss of heterozygosity variants outnumber gain of heterozygosity mutations ∼2:1. Although the mutation frequency is similar in mammals and corals, the preponderance of loss of heterozygosity changes and potential selection may reduce the frequency of deleterious mutations in colonial animals like corals. This may limit the deleterious effects of somatic mutations on the coral organism as well as potential offspring.

scholarly journals Whole genome resequencing and custom genotyping unveil clonal lineages in ‘Malbec’ grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Calderón ◽  
Nuria Mauri ◽  
Claudio Muñoz ◽  
Pablo Carbonell-Bejerano ◽  
Laura Bree ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Clonal Propagation ◽  
Variant Calling ◽  
Vitis Vinifera L ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Genome Resequencing ◽  
Diversity Pattern ◽  
Whole Genome Resequencing

AbstractGrapevine cultivars are clonally propagated to preserve their varietal attributes. However, genetic variations accumulate due to the occurrence of somatic mutations. This process is anthropically influenced through plant transportation, clonal propagation and selection. Malbec is a cultivar that is well-appreciated for the elaboration of red wine. It originated in Southwestern France and was introduced in Argentina during the 1850s. In order to study the clonal genetic diversity of Malbec grapevines, we generated whole-genome resequencing data for four accessions with different clonal propagation records. A stringent variant calling procedure was established to identify reliable polymorphisms among the analyzed accessions. The latter procedure retrieved 941 single nucleotide variants (SNVs). A reduced set of the detected SNVs was corroborated through Sanger sequencing, and employed to custom-design a genotyping experiment. We successfully genotyped 214 Malbec accessions using 41 SNVs, and identified 14 genotypes that clustered in two genetically divergent clonal lineages. These lineages were associated with the time span of clonal propagation of the analyzed accessions in Argentina and Europe. Our results show the usefulness of this approach for the study of the scarce intra-cultivar genetic diversity in grapevines. We also provide evidence on how human actions might have driven the accumulation of different somatic mutations, ultimately shaping the Malbec genetic diversity pattern.

scholarly journals Emerging Roles of RAD52 in Genome Maintenance

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manisha Jalan ◽  
Kyrie S. Olsen ◽  
Simon N. Powell
Keyword(s):  
Genome Stability ◽  
Genome Integrity ◽  
Repair Pathway ◽  
Genome Maintenance ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Repair Protein ◽  
Attractive Therapeutic Target ◽  
Dna Repair Protein ◽  
Synthetically Lethal ◽  
Knock Out Mice

The maintenance of genome integrity is critical for cell survival. Homologous recombination (HR) is considered the major error-free repair pathway in combatting endogenously generated double-stranded lesions in DNA. Nevertheless, a number of alternative repair pathways have been described as protectors of genome stability, especially in HR-deficient cells. One of the factors that appears to have a role in many of these pathways is human RAD52, a DNA repair protein that was previously considered to be dispensable due to a lack of an observable phenotype in knock-out mice. In later studies, RAD52 deficiency has been shown to be synthetically lethal with defects in BRCA genes, making RAD52 an attractive therapeutic target, particularly in the context of BRCA-deficient tumors.

scholarly journals Somatic mutations in Parkinson disease are enriched in synaptic and neuronal processes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Lobon ◽  
Manuel Solis-Moruno ◽  
David Juan ◽  
Ashraf Muhaisen ◽  
Federico Abascal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson Disease ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Validation Rate ◽  
Synaptic Functions ◽  
Whole Exome ◽  
Neuronal Processes

The role of somatic mutations in complex diseases, including neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, is becoming increasingly clear. To explore their relevance in sporadic Parkinson disease, we performed whole-exome sequencing in blood and four brain regions of ten patients. We identified 59 candidate somatic single nucleotide variants (sSNVs) through sensitive calling and extensive filtering. We validated 27 of them with amplicon-based deep sequencing, with a 70% validation rate for the highest-confidence variants. Most of the sSNVs were exclusively called in blood but were also found in the brain tissues with the ultra-deep amplicon sequencing, demonstrating the strength of multi-tissue sampling designs. We could confirm between 0 and 6 sSNVs per patient and generally those with a shorter lifespan carried more variants. Remarkably, the validated sSNVs are enriched in genes with synaptic functions that are co-expressed with genes previously associated with Parkinson disease.

The developmentally regulated ECM glycoprotein ISG plays an essential role in organizing the ECM and orienting the cells of Volvox

2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (24) ◽  
pp. 4605-4617
Author(s):  
A. Hallmann ◽  
D.L. Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Somatic Cells ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Model System ◽  
Swimming Behavior ◽  
Truncated Form ◽  
Developmentally Regulated ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Ecm Architecture ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

Volvox is one of the simplest multicellular organisms with only two cell types, yet it has a surprisingly complex extracellular matrix (ECM) containing many region-specific morphological components, making Volvox suitable as a model system for ECM investigations. ECM deposition begins shortly after inversion, which is the process by which the embryo turns itself right-side-out at the end of embryogenesis. It was previously shown that the gene encoding an ECM glycoprotein called ISG is transcribed very transiently during inversion. Here we show that the developmentally controlled ISG accumulates at the bases of the flagella right after inversion, before any morphologically recognizable ECM structures have yet developed. Later, ISG is abundant in the ‘flagellar hillocks’ that encircle the basal ends of all flagella, and in the adjacent ‘boundary zone’ that delimits the spheroid. Transgenic Volvox were generated which express a truncated form of ISG. These transgenics exhibit a severely disorganized ECM within which the cells are embedded in a highly chaotic manner that precludes motility. A synthetic version of the C-terminal decapeptide of ISG has a similar disorganizing effect, but only when it is applied during or shortly after inversion. We postulate that ISG plays a critical role in morphogenesis and acts as a key organizer of ECM architecture; at the very beginning of ECM formation ISG establishes an essential initial framework that both holds the somatic cells in an adaptive orientation and acts as the scaffold upon which the rest of the ECM can be properly assembled, assuring that somatic cells of post-inversion spheroids are held in orientations and locations that makes adaptive swimming behavior possible.

scholarly journals Increased Mutation Frequency in Redox-Impaired Escherichia coli Due to RelA- and RpoS-Mediated Repression of DNA Repair

2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (16) ◽  
pp. 5463-5470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amarjeet Singh ◽  
Anis Karimpour-Fard ◽  
Ryan T. Gill
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Dna Repair ◽  
Mutation Frequency ◽  
Spontaneous Mutation ◽  
Regulatory Gene ◽  
Stringent Response ◽  
Anaerobic Growth ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

ABSTRACT Balancing of reducing equivalents is a fundamental issue in bacterial metabolism and metabolic engineering. Mutations in the key metabolic genes ldhA and pflB of Escherichia coli are known to stall anaerobic growth and fermentation due to a buildup of intracellular NADH. We observed that the rate of spontaneous mutation in E. coli BW25113 (ΔldhA ΔpflB) was an order of magnitude higher than that in wild-type (WT) E. coli BW25113. We hypothesized that the increased mutation frequency was due to an increased NADH/NAD+ ratio in this strain. Using several redox-impaired strains of E. coli and different redox conditions, we confirmed a significant correlation (P < 0.01) between intracellular-NADH/NAD+ ratio and mutation frequency. To identify the genetic basis for this relationship, whole-genome transcriptional profiles were compared between BW25113 WT and BW25113 (ΔldhA ΔpflB). This analysis revealed that the genes involved in DNA repair were expressed at significantly lower levels in BW25113 (ΔldhA ΔpflB). Direct measurements of the extent of DNA repair in BW25113 (ΔldhA ΔpflB) subjected to UV exposure confirmed that DNA repair was inhibited. To identify a direct link between DNA repair and intracellular-redox ratio, the stringent-response-regulatory gene relA and the global-stress-response-regulatory gene rpoS were deleted. In both cases, the mutation frequencies were restored to BW25113 WT levels.

scholarly journals Low rate of somatic mutations in a long-lived oak tree

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Namrata Sarkar ◽  
Emanuel Schmid-Siegert ◽  
Christian Iseli ◽  
Sandra Calderon ◽  
Caroline Gouhier-Darimont ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Cell Divisions ◽  
Gamete Formation ◽  
Oak Tree ◽  
Sequential Appearance ◽  
Low Rate ◽  
Shoot Meristems

Because plants do not possess a proper germline, deleterious somatic mutations can be passed to gametes and a large number of cell divisions separating zygote from gamete formation in long-lived plants may lead to many mutations. We sequenced the genome of two terminal branches of a 234-year-old oak tree and found few fixed somatic single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), whose sequential appearance in the tree could be traced along nested sectors of younger branches. Our data suggest that stem cells of shoot meristems are robustly protected from accumulation of mutations in trees.

scholarly journals Replisome bypass of a protein-based R-loop block by Pif1

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (48) ◽  
pp. 30354-30361
Author(s):  
Grant D. Schauer ◽  
Lisanne M. Spenkelink ◽  
Jacob S. Lewis ◽  
Olga Yurieva ◽  
Stefan H. Mueller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Molecule ◽  
Genome Stability ◽  
Genome Instability ◽  
Multiprotein Complex ◽  
Genome Maintenance ◽  
Visualization Technique ◽  
General Displacement ◽  
Maintain Genome Stability ◽  
Protein Blocks

Efficient and faithful replication of the genome is essential to maintain genome stability. Replication is carried out by a multiprotein complex called the replisome, which encounters numerous obstacles to its progression. Failure to bypass these obstacles results in genome instability and may facilitate errors leading to disease. Cells use accessory helicases that help the replisome bypass difficult barriers. All eukaryotes contain the accessory helicase Pif1, which tracks in a 5′–3′ direction on single-stranded DNA and plays a role in genome maintenance processes. Here, we reveal a previously unknown role for Pif1 in replication barrier bypass. We use an in vitro reconstitutedSaccharomyces cerevisiaereplisome to demonstrate that Pif1 enables the replisome to bypass an inactive (i.e., dead) Cas9 (dCas9) R-loop barrier. Interestingly, dCas9 R-loops targeted to either strand are bypassed with similar efficiency. Furthermore, we employed a single-molecule fluorescence visualization technique to show that Pif1 facilitates this bypass by enabling the simultaneous removal of the dCas9 protein and the R-loop. We propose that Pif1 is a general displacement helicase for replication bypass of both R-loops and protein blocks.

scholarly journals Genome aging: somatic mutation in the brain links age-related decline with disease and nominates pathogenic mechanisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (R2) ◽  
pp. R197-R206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Lodato ◽  
Christopher A Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Somatic Mutation ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Over Time

AbstractAging is a mysterious process, not only controlled genetically but also subject to random damage that can accumulate over time. While DNA damage and subsequent mutation in somatic cells were first proposed as drivers of aging more than 60 years ago, whether and to what degree these processes shape the neuronal genome in the human brain could not be tested until recent technological breakthroughs related to single-cell whole-genome sequencing. Indeed, somatic single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) increase with age in the human brain, in a somewhat stochastic process that may nonetheless be controlled by underlying genetic programs. Evidence from the literature suggests that in addition to demonstrated increases in somatic SNVs during aging in normal brains, somatic mutation may also play a role in late-onset, sporadic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In this review, we will discuss somatic mutation in the human brain, mechanisms by which somatic mutations occur and can be controlled, and how this process can impact human health.

scholarly journals Intercellular competition and the inevitability of multicellular aging

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (49) ◽  
pp. 12982-12987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Nelson ◽  
Joanna Masel
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Cells ◽  
Multicellular Organism ◽  
Double Bind ◽  
Antagonistic Pleiotropy ◽  
Full Understanding ◽  
Effects Of Aging ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
Somatic Selection

Current theories attribute aging to a failure of selection, due to either pleiotropic constraints or declining strength of selection after the onset of reproduction. These theories implicitly leave open the possibility that if senescence-causing alleles could be identified, or if antagonistic pleiotropy could be broken, the effects of aging might be ameliorated or delayed indefinitely. These theories are built on models of selection between multicellular organisms, but a full understanding of aging also requires examining the role of somatic selection within an organism. Selection between somatic cells (i.e., intercellular competition) can delay aging by purging nonfunctioning cells. However, the fitness of a multicellular organism depends not just on how functional its individual cells are but also on how well cells work together. While intercellular competition weeds out nonfunctional cells, it may also select for cells that do not cooperate. Thus, intercellular competition creates an inescapable double bind that makes aging inevitable in multicellular organisms.

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