Low base-substitution mutation rate in the germline genome of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila

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dc.citation.issue12
dc.citation.volume8
dc.contributor.authorLong H
dc.contributor.authorWinter DJ
dc.contributor.authorChang AY-C
dc.contributor.authorSung W
dc.contributor.authorWu SH
dc.contributor.authorBalboa M
dc.contributor.authorAzevedo RBR
dc.contributor.authorCartwright RA
dc.contributor.authorLynch M
dc.contributor.authorZufall RA
dc.date.available2016-12
dc.date.available2016-09-12
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractMutation is the ultimate source of all genetic variation and is, therefore, central to evolutionary change. Previous work on Paramecium tetraurelia found an unusually low germline base-substitution mutation rate in this ciliate. Here, we tested the generality of this result among ciliates using Tetrahymena thermophila. We sequenced the genomes of 10 lines of T. thermophila that had each undergone approximately 1,000 generations of mutation accumulation (MA). We applied an existing mutation-calling pipeline and developed a new probabilistic mutation detection approach that directly models the design of an MA experiment and accommodates the noise introduced by mismapped reads. Our probabilistic mutation-calling method provides a straightforward way of estimating the number of sites at which a mutation could have been called if one was present, providing the denominator for our mutation rate calculations. From these methods, we find that T. thermophila has a germline base-substitution mutation rate of 7.61 × 10 − 12 per-site, per cell division, which is consistent with the low base-substitution mutation rate in P. tetraurelia. Over the course of the evolution experiment, genomic exclusion lines derived from the MA lines experienced a fitness decline that cannot be accounted for by germline base-substitution mutations alone, suggesting that other genetic or epigenetic factors must be involved. Because selection can only operate to reduce mutation rates based upon the "visible" mutational load, asexual reproduction with a transcriptionally silent germline may allow ciliates to evolve extremely low germline mutation rates.
dc.description.publication-statusPublished
dc.format.extent3629 - 3639
dc.identifierhttp://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000395813500005&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=c5bb3b2499afac691c2e3c1a83ef6fef
dc.identifier.citationGENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 2016, 8 (12), pp. 3629 - 3639
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/gbe/evw223
dc.identifier.elements-id340471
dc.identifier.harvestedMassey_Dark
dc.identifier.issn1759-6653
dc.publisherOxford University Press
dc.relation.isPartOfGENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
dc.subjectdrift-barrier hypothesis
dc.subjectmutation accumulation
dc.subjectmicronucleus
dc.subjectmacronucleus
dc.subjectmicrobial eukaryote
dc.subjectOligohymenophorea
dc.subject.anzsrc0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
dc.subject.anzsrc0603 Evolutionary Biology
dc.subject.anzsrc0604 Genetics
dc.titleLow base-substitution mutation rate in the germline genome of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.notesNot known
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences/School of Fundamental Sciences
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