- page settings
- showhide sidebar
- showhide empty fields
- layout
- (too narrow)
- open all
- close all
- Page Content
- Overview
- External Links
- History
- Referenced
- Tools
- Tree Display
- My WormBase
- My Favorites
- My Library
- Recent Activity
- Comments (0)
history logging is off
Tree Display
My Favorites
My Library
Comments on Denver, Dee et al. (2011) International Worm Meeting "Exploring the mutational landscape of Caenorhabditis." (0)
Overview
Denver, Dee, Wilhelm, Larry, Dolan, Peter, Howe, Dana, Gafner, K, & Baer, Charles (2011). Exploring the mutational landscape of Caenorhabditis presented in International Worm Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.
Mutation is often metaphorically referred to as "the fuel of evolution" because without mutation, evolution would grind to a halt. Different groups (species, higher taxa) evolve at different rates, but the extent to which variation in mutation underlies variation in the rate of evolution is unknown. The rate and molecular spectrum of mutations are known to vary at all taxonomic levels, including between individuals in the same population. However, the causes of variation in genome-wide mutational properties are difficult to disentangle, because variation in mutational properties could result from the effects of genotype, environment or both. We report single-nucleotide mutation (SNM) rates and spectra for two genotypes of C. briggsae (HK104, PB800) and C. elegans (N2, PB306) in which mutations were allowed to accumulate under relaxed selection for 250 generations under uniform conditions. Seven mutation accumulation ("MA") lines from each genotype were sequenced with Illumina technology at ~6X average coverage. As found previously in the N2 strain of C. elegans, the average SNM rate is ~2 x 10-9/gen. Overall SNM rate varied between the four genotypes, mainly due to the low rate of the PB306 strain of C. elegans. Of the six possible paired mutation types, two (A:T->T:A and A:T->G:C) varied between genotypes. G:C->T:A transversions were more common than in the standing within-species genetic variation, as found in previously in N2. Also as found previously in N2, mutations from G and C to T and A are much more common than from A and T to G and C. These findings generalize the conclusion that mutational bias alone cannot explain the observed genome-wide base composition or the transition/transversion ratio.
Affiliations:
- Dept. Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
- Division of Science and Math, University of Minnesota at Morris, Morris, MN
- Dept. of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL