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High prevalence of the fra(X) syndrome cannot be explained by a high mutation rate.

The overall prevalence of the fragile X [fra(X)] mutation, as determined by population studies, is approximately 1 in 850 [Gustavson et al., 1986; Webb et al., 1986]. This prevalence suggests a very high mutation rate which, in turn, suggests that many patients have to represent sporadic cases. In order to obtain an accurate estimate of the proportion of sporadic cases, we performed genealogic, cytogenetic and DNA linkage studies as well as direct analysis of the CGG repeat in relatives of 84 fra(X) probands. We did not find any evidence for the presence of sporadic cases. In 11 probands consanguinity could be proven by the detection of common ancestors, in 5 related families up to 9 generations ago. In the other 6 related families the mutation could be traced back 4-6 generations. In 3 or more generation families we were able to demonstrate that half of the probands carried the grandpaternal fra(X) gene. These results imply that rather than a high mutation rate, both Normal Transmitting Males (NTM's) and mentally normal female carriers contribute considerably to the high prevalence of the fra(X) syndrome.

Female

Similarity of spontaneous germinal and in vitro somatic cell mutation rates in humans: implications for carcinogenesis and for the role of exogenous factors in "spontaneous" germinal mutagenesis.

The rate of spontaneous mutation resulting in electrophoretic variants per cell generation in a human lymphoblastoid cell line, on the basis of experiments described in this paper, is found to be 7.2 x 10(-8) per locus. A review of similar data on electrophoretic variants resulting from spontaneous mutation in the human germ line leads to an estimate of 3.3 x 10(-8) per locus per cell generation. It is argued that the similarity of these two estimates, despite an average cell generation time of 18.5 hr for the cultured somatic cells but about 26 days in the germ line, suggests that spontaneous mutation involving nucleotide substitutions is much more dependent on cell generation than on time. This finding permits the inference that environmental (exogenous) variables make a relatively small contribution to the rate of this type of human germinal spontaneous mutation. While in vitro somatic-cell mutation rates, such as derived in this study, provide a basis for modeling the contribution of nucleotide substitutions in multihit/clonal theories of carcinogenesis, it is also argued that the complex of events involved in carcinogenesis, including chromosomal rearrangements and mitotic recombination, could have very different individual probabilities. Estimates for the rates of these other types of mutation are needed to provide a better understanding of the manner in which multiple mutations accumulate in malignant cells.

Alleles

Specific locus mutation rates after repeated small radiation doses to mouse oocytes.

When female mice were given a dose of 20 X 20 rad X-rays, the specific locus mutation rate among offspring conceived up to 7 weeks after the end of treatment was 1/39887 or 0.18-10(-7)/rad/locus, whereas when the same total dose of 200 rad was given in a single exposure the mutation rate was 9/34813 or 1.85-10(-7)/rad/locus. The lower mutation rate after the 20 X 10 rad dose was obtained whether the total or 200 rad was given over a period of 5 days or 4 weeks, and if only young conceived in the first 20 days, rather than 7 weeks, were considered. It is suggested that each 10 rad fraction had the same small effect, and hence that these results confirm and extend RUSSELL's previous finding that the dose-response relationship for specific locus muations in females is curved.

Animals

Estimation of demography and mutation rates from one million haploid genomes.

As genetic sequencing costs have plummeted, datasets with sizes previously unthinkable have begun to appear. Such datasets present opportunities to learn about evolutionary history, particularly via rare alleles that record the very recent past. However, beyond the computational challenges inherent in the analysis of many large-scale datasets, large population-genetic datasets present theoretical problems. In particular, the majority of population-genetic tools require the assumption that each mutant allele in the sample is the result of a single mutation (the "infinite-sites" assumption), which is violated in large samples. Here, we present DR EVIL, a method for estimating mutation rates and recent demographic history from very large samples. DR EVIL avoids the infinite-sites assumption by using a diffusion approximation to a branching-process model with recurrent mutation. This approach results in tractable likelihoods that are accurate for rare alleles. We show that DR EVIL performs well in simulations and apply it to rare-variant data from one million haploid samples. We identify mutation-rate heterogeneity even after accounting for trinucleotide context and methylation status. We also predict that at modern sample sizes, the alleles at most polymorphic sites with high mutation rates represent the descendants of multiple mutation events.

Haploidy

Biased gene conversion, copy number, and apparent mutation rate differences within chloroplast and bacterial genomes.

We investigate the possibility that differences between synonymous substitution rates of organelle and bacterial genes differing only in copy number may be due to conversion bias. We find that the rather large observed difference in the synonymous rates between genes in the single copy and inverted-repeat regions of chloroplasts can be accounted for by a very small bias against new mutants. More generally, differences in the within-organelle fixation probability result in different apparent mutation rates as measured by the expected rate of appearance of cells homoplasmic for new mutants. Thus, differences in intracellular population parameters rather than molecular mechanisms can account for some variation in the apparent mutation rates of organelle genes, and possibly in other systems with variable numbers of gene copies. On the other hand, our analysis suggests that conversion bias is not a likely explanation for relatively low mutation rates observed near the replication origin of bacterial chromosomes.

Chloroplasts

The frequency of private electrophoretic variants in Australian aborigines and indirect estimates of mutation rate.

The number of "private" electrophoretic variants of enzymes controlled by 25 loci has been used to obtain estimates of mutation rate in Australian Aborigines. Three different methods yield values of 6.11 X 10(-6), 2.78 X 10(-6), and 12.86 X 10(-6)/locus per generation for the total sample of Aborigines. One tribal population of Waljbiri in central Australia gives values of 2.99 X 10(-6) and 2.04 X 10(-6) for two of the methods, the third being unapplicable. The mean mutation rate for the total Aboriginal sample of 7.25 X 10(-6) is very similar to the value obtained by Neel and his colleagues for Amerindians in South America.

Australia

Estimation of the male and female mutation rates in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

We present the results of an international collaborative study aimed at estimating the ratio of male to female mutation rates in Duchenne muscular dystrophy based on the method of C. Müller and T. Grimm. With a sample size of 295, this ratio is found to be very close to 1, thus giving evidence for equal mutation rates in males and females in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Blotting, Southern

Spontaneous chromosome rearrangements in the protozoan Giardia lamblia: estimation of mutation rates.

Subcloned lines of the WB strain of Giardia lamblia contain polymorphic ribosomal RNA (rRNA) encoding chromosomes (Le Blancq et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 1991, 19, 4405-4412). We show that in a continuously propagated culture of G.lamblia trophozoites the proportion of trophozoites with rearranged rRNA encoding chromosomes gradually increases, consistent with the high mutation rate of about 1% per cell per division cycle. This conclusion is based on the finding in one experiment that after about 8 division cycles 20% of the population consisted of independent mutants, while after approximately 100 division cycles 87.5% of the population were independent mutants. In a second experiment, approximately 38% and 71.5% of the trophozoites were independent mutants after approximately 9 and approximately 100 division cycles, respectively. The data show that the genome of the WB strain of G.lamblia has a highly recombinogenic phenotype. Extensive karyotype heterogeneity has also been observed among recently isolated G.lamblia strains obtained from a defined geographic area (Korman et al., J. Clin. Invest. 1992, 89, 1725-1733) suggesting that a high mutation rate might also occur in vivo.

Animals

Nucleotide sequence and mutation rate of the H strain of hepatitis C virus.

Patient H is an American patient who was infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 1977. The patient became chronically infected and has remained so for the past 13 years. In this study, we compared the nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences of the HCV genome obtained from plasma collected in 1977 with that collected in 1990. We find that the two HCV isolates differ at 123 of the 4923 (2.50%) nucleotides sequenced. We estimate that the mutation rate of the H strain of HCV is approximately 1.92 x 10(-3) base substitutions per genome site per year. The nucleotide changes were exclusively base substitutions and were unevenly distributed throughout the genome. A relatively high rate of change was observed in the region of the HCV genome that corresponds to the non-structural protein 1 gene region of flaviviruses, where 44 of 960 (4.6%) nucleotides were different. Within this region there was a 39-nucleotide domain in which 28.2% of the nucleotides differed between the two isolates. In contrast, relatively few nucleotide substitutions were observed in the 5' noncoding region, where only 2 of 276 (0.7%) nucleotides were different. Our results suggest that the mutation rate of the HCV genome is similar to that of other RNA viruses and that genes appear to be evolving at different rates within the virus genome.

Amino Acid Sequence

Genomic characterization and mutation rate of hepatitis C virus isolated from a patient who contracted hepatitis during an epidemic of non-A, non-B hepatitis in Japan.

To investigate the genomic characterization of hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolated from patient who contracted hepatitis during an epidemic of non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis in Shimizu city, Japan, we have cloned the nucleotide sequence of the viral genome (HCV-KF) spanning the structural domain. When compared to other previously reported HCV isolates, HCV-KF showed an overall identity at the amino acid level of 90.0 to 92.1% with Japanese isolates and 80.9 to 82.1% with American-like isolates. The HCV-KF genome displays an insertion of three nucleotides in-frame (corresponding to one amino acid) found at the junction between the E1 and E2/NS1 region. The mutation rate of the HCV-KF genome was assessed by comparing the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the viral RNA obtained from the serum of the original patient with viral sequences derived from the serum of a chimpanzee inoculated with the same serum 9 years previously. The substitution rate of the viral genome was estimated at 0.9 x 10(-3) nucleotides per site per year for the HCV structural region. The highest mutation rate was found in the hypervariable region within the E2/NS1 domain. It is suggested that the outbreak in Shimizu city was caused by a strain of HCV closely related to the Japanese-like subgroup of isolates.

Americas

Spontaneous mutation rate to thioguanine resistance is decreased in polyploid hamster cells.

The mutation rate to thioguanine resistance was 3.11 X 10(-6) in a near diploid V79 hamster cell line and 7.58 X 10(-8) in a near tetraploid derivative produced with colchicine. The specific activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglycerate kinase of the tetraploid line were greater than that of the diploid which suggests that twice the number of active X chromosomes were present in the tetraploid. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that spontaneous variants resistant to thioguanine arise through mutation and chromosomal segregation, as has been suggested for induced mutations in tetraploid hamster cells.

Cell Line

The incidence of genetic disease and the impact on man of an altered mutation rate.

In order to adequately assess the genetic risks to man of an altered mutation rate, it is necessary to know the naturally occurring frequency of mutation-maintained genetic ill-health and the burden that such defects impose. The relevant data that are available are largely inadequate to determine the incidence of genetic disease that is maintained by mutation, and measures of various aspects of the social and personal burdens due to hereditary ill-health are almost wholly lacking. It is suggested that the creation of individual and family histories, using large scale automatic record linkage and existing files of vital and ill-health records, may be a useful approach to these kinds of problems. Using such linked individual health histories, new data are presented that relate to measures of the burden due to childhood dominant and recessive diseases and congenital malformations.

British Columbia

Effect of changes in population size on the correlation between mutation rate and heterozygosity.

The effect of changes in population size on the correlation between mutation rate and heterozygosity was studied by using two models: sudden change in population size and gradual change. It was shown that the results for the two models are close to each other, unless the rate of change for the latter is exceedingly slow. Thus, in many cases, the former model, which is much simpler than the latter, can be used to treat the present problem. Numerical computations showed that the correlation in a population that is expanding or has expanded in the recent past is stronger while the correlation in a population that is decreasing or has experienced a population reduction or bottleneck in the recent past is weaker than that for an equilibrium population with the same mean heterozygosity. However, regardless of whether the population is at equilibrium or not, the proportion of variation in heterozygosity that is attributable to variation in molecular weight over loci is rather small if the mean heterozygosity of the population is low, say of the order 0.05 or smaller.

Genetics, Population

Spontaneous mutation rates at enzyme loci in Drosophila melanogaster.

In a marked-inversion-balanced lethal system mutations were accumulated at a minimum pressure of natural selection on 2000 second chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster that originated from 4 stem chromosomes. Five enzyme loci were tested: alpha-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.8), malate dehydrogenase (Mdh, EC 1.1.1.37), alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.1), hexokinase-C (Hex-C tentative name), and alpha-amylase (Amy, EC 3.2.1.1). Three band-morph mutants, one at the Mdh locus, one at the Hex-C locus, and one at the Amy locus, were detected out of 1,658,308 allele replications. In addition, 17 null mutants were found. Accepting that the number of structural genes is the same as that of bands in the salivary gland chromosomes, the total mutation rate per generation for all the structural genes in the second chromosomes is estimated to be 0.008-0.040, which is much smaller than that estimated for viability polygenes (0.12-0.17). Thus, it is speculated that most viability and other fitness polygenes are located in controlling regions outside the structural genes.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases

Transient mutators: a semiquantitative analysis of the influence of translation and transcription errors on mutation rates.

A population of bacteria growing in a nonlimiting medium includes mutator bacteria and transient mutators defined as wild-type bacteria which, due to occasional transcription or translation errors, display a mutator phenotype. A semiquantitative theoretical analysis of the steady-state composition of an Escherichia coli population suggests that true strong genotypic mutators produce about 3 x 10(-3) of the single mutations arising in the population, while transient mutators produce at least 10% of the single mutations and more than 95% of the simultaneous double mutations. Numbers of mismatch repair proteins inherited by the offspring, proportions of lethal mutations and mortality rates are among the main parameters that influence the steady-state composition of the population. These results have implications for the experimental manipulation of mutation rates and the evolutionary fixation of frequent but nearly neutral mutations (e.g., synonymous codon substitutions).

Bacteria

The CAN1 locus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: fine-structure analysis and forward mutation rates.

A system of strains and growth media was developed to allow efficient detection of forward mutation, reversion, complementation, and suppression at the canavanine-resistance (CAN1) locus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetic fine-structure analysis revealed that the map length is at least 40, and possibly as much as 60 X-ray map units; this is the longest gene map yet reported in S. cerevisiae. Allelic complementation was not observed, despite testing of a large number of allele pairs, and alleles suppressible by the ochre suppressor SUP11 were absent from a sample of 48 spontaneous mutants and occurred infrequently (7%) among a sample of ultraviolet-induced mutants. Infrequent mutant types included canavanine-resistant mutants capable of arginine uptake and alleles thought to represent deletions or inversions. In contrast to previous reports in the literature, the spontaneous forward mutation rate at CAN1 did not increase during meiosis.

Alleles