Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The many faces of an aging germline: reduced germline mutation rate at reproductive peak

Chen, Hwei-Yen LU ; Krieg, Therese ; Mautz, Brian ; Jolly, Cécile ; Scofield, Douglas G ; Maklakov, Alexei A. ; Immler, Simone ; Boomsma, Jacobus J. and Zhang, Guojie (2024) Nordic Oikos 2024
Abstract
Germline mutations (GMs) are the ultimate source of genetic diversity, and germline mutation rate (GMR) is
thus central to evolutionary biology. However, while GMs primarily arise during DNA replication in the parental
germline and should accumulate with increasing parental age, studies showed that GMR does not necessarily
track germ cell divisions. This suggests that GMR is subjected to selection and the relationship between GMR
and parental age is likely to be non-linear. To precisely characterize parental age effect, we measured GMR in
a short-lived worm (using mutation accumulation) and a long-lived ant (a pedigree-based approach) at
young, prime (reproductive peak), and old parental ages. We showed that GMR... (More)
Germline mutations (GMs) are the ultimate source of genetic diversity, and germline mutation rate (GMR) is
thus central to evolutionary biology. However, while GMs primarily arise during DNA replication in the parental
germline and should accumulate with increasing parental age, studies showed that GMR does not necessarily
track germ cell divisions. This suggests that GMR is subjected to selection and the relationship between GMR
and parental age is likely to be non-linear. To precisely characterize parental age effect, we measured GMR in
a short-lived worm (using mutation accumulation) and a long-lived ant (a pedigree-based approach) at
young, prime (reproductive peak), and old parental ages. We showed that GMR does not increase linearly with
parental age, and prime parental age had a reduced GMR compared to young and old ages. The non-
linear increase in offspring GM load with parental age likely represents selection against germline senescence. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
conference name
Nordic Oikos 2024
conference location
Lund, Sweden
conference dates
2024-03-12 - 2024-03-15
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7d4a4ca4-1234-4f23-9f76-a6a1433a5700
date added to LUP
2025-02-03 09:36:28
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:04:10
@misc{7d4a4ca4-1234-4f23-9f76-a6a1433a5700,
  abstract     = {{Germline mutations (GMs) are the ultimate source of genetic diversity, and germline mutation rate (GMR) is<br/>thus central to evolutionary biology. However, while GMs primarily arise during DNA replication in the parental<br/>germline and should accumulate with increasing parental age, studies showed that GMR does not necessarily<br/>track germ cell divisions. This suggests that GMR is subjected to selection and the relationship between GMR<br/>and parental age is likely to be non-linear. To precisely characterize parental age effect, we measured GMR in<br/>a short-lived worm (using mutation accumulation) and a long-lived ant (a pedigree-based approach) at<br/>young, prime (reproductive peak), and old parental ages. We showed that GMR does not increase linearly with<br/>parental age, and prime parental age had a reduced GMR compared to young and old ages. The non-<br/>linear increase in offspring GM load with parental age likely represents selection against germline senescence.}},
  author       = {{Chen, Hwei-Yen and Krieg, Therese and Mautz, Brian and Jolly, Cécile and Scofield, Douglas G and Maklakov, Alexei A. and Immler, Simone and Boomsma, Jacobus J. and Zhang, Guojie}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  title        = {{The many faces of an aging germline: reduced germline mutation rate at reproductive peak}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}