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Published on: November 1, 2011
The effects of Atm haploinsufficiency on mutation rate in the mouse germ line and somatic tissue
Akshay K Ahuja1, Ruth C Barber, Robert J Hardwick
1Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
Abstract:
Using single-molecule polymerase chain reaction, the frequency of spontaneous and radiation-induced mutation at an expanded simple tandem repeat (ESTR) locus was studied in DNA samples extracted from sperm and bone marrow of Atm knockout (Atm(+/-)) heterozygous male mice. The frequency of spontaneous mutation in sperm and bone marrow in Atm(+/-) males did not significantly differ from that in wild-type BALB/c mice. Acute exposure to 1 Gy of gamma-rays did not affect ESTR mutation frequency in bone marrow and resulted in similar increases in sperm samples taken from Atm(+/-) and BALB/c males. Taken together, these results suggest that the Atm haploinsufficiency analysed in our study does not affect spontaneous and radiation-induced ESTR mutation frequency in mice.
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