- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
-
All Versions of this Article:
genetics.107.076067v1
177/3/1499 most recent - Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Email this article to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via HighWire
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by McConnell, R.
- Articles by Queller, D. C.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by McConnell, R.
- Articles by Queller, D. C.
Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on October 18, 2007.
Genetics, Vol. 177, 1499-1507, November 2007, Copyright © 2007
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.076067
An Unusually Low Microsatellite Mutation Rate in Dictyostelium discoideum, an Organism With Unusually Abundant Microsatellites
Ryan McConnell, Sara Middlemist, Clea Scala, Joan E. Strassmann and David C. Queller1
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005
1 Corresponding author: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, MS-170, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005.
E-mail: queller{at}rice.edu
The genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is known to have a very high density of microsatellite repeats, including thousands of triplet microsatellite repeats in coding regions that apparently code for long runs of single amino acids. We used a mutation accumulation study to see if unusually high microsatellite mutation rates contribute to this pattern. There was a modest bias toward mutations that increase repeat number, but because upward mutations were smaller than downward ones, this did not lead to a net average increase in size. Longer microsatellites had higher mutation rates than shorter ones, but did not show greater directional bias. The most striking finding is that the overall mutation rate is the lowest reported for microsatellites: 
1 x 10–6 for 10 dinucleotide loci and 6 x 10–6 for 52 trinucleotide loci (which were longer). High microsatellite mutation rates therefore do not explain the high incidence of microsatellites. The causal relation may in fact be reversed, with low mutation rates evolving to protect against deleterious fitness effects of mutation at the numerous microsatellites.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  A.-L. Raquin, F. Depaulis, A. Lambert, N. Galic, P. Brabant, and I. Goldringer Experimental Estimation of Mutation Rates in a Wheat Population With a Gene Genealogy Approach Genetics, August 1, 2008; 179(4): 2195 - 2211. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. L. Seyfert, M. E. A. Cristescu, L. Frisse, S. Schaack, W. K. Thomas, and M. Lynch The Rate and Spectrum of Microsatellite Mutation in Caenorhabditis elegans and Daphnia pulex Genetics, April 1, 2008; 178(4): 2113 - 2121. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|