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A mutation is any detectable and heritable change in nucleotide sequence that causes a change in genotype and is transmitted to daughter cells and succeeding generations.
Tools for diversifying genomic DNA in mammalian cells have long relied on base editors making C to T or A to G substitutions. Here, authors use RNA-guided DNA polymerases (EvolvR) to evolve mammalian cells using all twelve substitutions and show that nickase fidelity affects EvolvR’s mutation rates.
In this Tool of the Trade article, Tim Coorens describes the development of SComatic, an algorithm enabling the detection of somatic mutations in single-cell RNA- or ATAC-sequencing data, and its use to study lineage relations and mutational signatures.
Estimating age in clonal populations is exceedingly challenging, but a study proposes a molecular clock based on genome-wide fixed somatic variations as a solution.
