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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Assessing Somatic Hypermutation in Ramos B Cells after Overexpression or Knockdown of Specific Genes
Published on: November 1, 2011
Elevated mutation rates in the germline of Polkappa mutant male mice
Karen L-A Burr1, Susana Velasco-Miguel, Venkata S Duvvuri
1Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
Abstract:
Mutation rates at two expanded simple tandem repeat (ESTR) loci were studied in the germline of DNA polymerase kappa (Polkappa(-/-)) deficient mice. The spontaneous mutation rate in homozygous Polkappa(-/-) males was significantly higher than in isogenic wild-type mice (Polkappa(+/+)), but the ESTR mutation spectrum in Polkappa(-/-) animals did not differ from that in Polkappa(+/+) males. We suggest that compromised translesion synthesis in Polkappa(-/-) mice may result in replication fork pausing which, in turn, may affect ESTR mutation rate.
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