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Measuring Microbial Mutation Rates with the Fluctuation Assay
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Somatic maintenance impacts the evolution of mutation rate.

Andrii Rozhok1, James DeGregori2,3,4,5

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA. Andrii.Rozhok@cuanschutz.edu.

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|August 25, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Increased body size in animals may have been facilitated by the evolution of longevity. Longevity influences somatic maintenance and modulates the cost of somatic mutations, impacting mutation rates and animal evolution.

Keywords:
Body sizeLongevityMutation rateSelectionSomatic maintenance

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Genetics
  • Animal physiology

Background:

  • Multicellular animal evolution shows a trend toward increased body size.
  • Increased body size presents challenges like higher cancer risk and reduced evolvability.
  • Low population size is thought to drive high mutation rates in animals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of somatic maintenance and longevity in shaping selection on mutation rates.
  • To understand how these factors influenced animal evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Stochastic modeling was employed to analyze the relationship between longevity, somatic maintenance, and mutation rates.

Main Results:

  • Selection acting on mutation rates is significantly influenced by the evolution of somatic maintenance and longevity.
  • Longevity modulates the cost associated with somatic mutations.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of longevity likely played a critical role in facilitating animal evolution.
  • Understanding the interplay between longevity and mutation rates is key to comprehending animal evolutionary trajectories.