Clusters of new identical mutants and the fate of underdominant mutations

Huai, Haiying; Woodruff, R. C.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-5210-5_37

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Just because several identical copies of a new allele can theoretically be traced to a premeiotic mutational event does not mean we can ignore the impact this event will have on the makeup of the gene pool. Premeiotic and meiotic mutational events do not contribute to the gene pool with the same magnitude [Woodruff et al, 1996;Huai and Woodruff, 1998], so to argue that clusters of identical new alleles should be counted as one mutation is to falsify the actual genetic phenomenon acting at the population level. Thus, all new mutant alleles, irrespective of origin, should be counted when measuring mutation rate.…”

Section: Table III Examples Of Effect Of Clusters On Spontaneous Ratmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutation rate: A simple concept has become complex

Thompson

Woodruff

Huai

1998

Environ. Mol. Mutagen.

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The factors that cause new mutations or affect the rate at which they occur have important implications for many areas of genetics. But recent work on phenomena such as premeiotic mutations, which yield a cluster of identical new mutants at the same time, led us to realize that researchers are using the term “mutation rate” in different, and sometimes contradictory, ways. One premeiotic genetic change may ultimately yield several new mutant offspring, but should this be considered one new mutation or many? The way the data are handled in analyses can have a significant effect on the results. How, then, does one handle clusters in the estimation of mutation rates? We explore this question and propose that geneticists begin to distinguish clearly between three different phenomena that to this point have been given the same name: the initial prerepair “genetic damage rate,” the postrepair “mutational event rate,” and the observed “mutation rate” as it is expressed in the proportion of new mutant offspring. We believe that all new mutant offspring should be counted when estimating mutation rate, irrespective of when in the developmental cycle it is believed that the initial mutational event occurred. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 32: 292–300, 1998 © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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Section: Table III Examples Of Effect Of Clusters On Spontaneous Ratmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutation rate: A simple concept has become complex

Thompson

Woodruff

Huai

1998

Environ. Mol. Mutagen.

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Mutation and premating isolation

Woodruff

Thompson

2002

Contemporary Issues in Genetics and Evolution

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A perspective on the evolution of germ-cell development and germinal mosaics of deleterious mutations

2015

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In many animals a small number of primordial germ cells (PGCs) are set aside early in development, mitosis and mitochondrial DNA syntheses are arrested, transcription is stopped or reduced, and the PGCs migrate later to the emerging gonads and become germ cells. What could be the evolutionary advantage of sequestering non-dividing PGCs early in development? A commonly cited advantage is a reduction in the number of new deleterious mutations that would occur if there were additional divisions in PGCs early in development. We would like to add to this advantage the fact that these additional mutations in PGCs give rise to germinal mosaics (i.e., premeiotic clusters of mutation) in multiple progeny of the same individual, thus having a larger detrimental effect on the evolutionary fitness of their carriers. Here, we reviewed published studies providing evidence that germinal mosaics of deleterious mutant alleles are not rare, occur for all types of genetic damage, and have been observed in all tested organisms and in nature. We propose the hypothesis that PGC sequestration during early animal development may have evolved in part in response to selection for preventing the occurrence of premeiotic clusters of deleterious mutant alleles, and describe a series of predictions that would allow the assessment of the potential role of germinal mosaics on the evolution of PGC sequestration.

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Clusters of new identical mutants and the fate of underdominant mutations

Cited by 5 publications

References 80 publications

Mutation rate: A simple concept has become complex

Mutation rate: A simple concept has become complex

Mutation and premating isolation

A perspective on the evolution of germ-cell development and germinal mosaics of deleterious mutations

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