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C. elegans whole-genome sequencing reveals mutational signatures related to carcinogens and DNA repair deficiency.

Genome research | 2014

Mutation is associated with developmental and hereditary disorders, aging, and cancer. While we understand some mutational processes operative in human disease, most remain mysterious. We used Caenorhabditis elegans whole-genome sequencing to model mutational signatures, analyzing 183 worm populations across 17 DNA repair-deficient backgrounds propagated for 20 generations or exposed to carcinogens. The baseline mutation rate in C. elegans was approximately one per genome per generation, not overtly altered across several DNA repair deficiencies over 20 generations. Telomere erosion led to complex chromosomal rearrangements initiated by breakage-fusion-bridge cycles and completed by simultaneously acquired, localized clusters of breakpoints. Aflatoxin B1 induced substitutions of guanines in a GpC context, as observed in aflatoxin-induced liver cancers. Mutational burden increased with impaired nucleotide excision repair. Cisplatin and mechlorethamine, DNA crosslinking agents, caused dose- and genotype-dependent signatures among indels, substitutions, and rearrangements. Strikingly, both agents induced clustered rearrangements resembling "chromoanasynthesis," a replication-based mutational signature seen in constitutional genomic disorders, suggesting that interstrand crosslinks may play a pathogenic role in such events. Cisplatin mutagenicity was most pronounced in xpf-1 mutants, suggesting that this gene critically protects cells against platinum chemotherapy. Thus, experimental model systems combined with genome sequencing can recapture and mechanistically explain mutational signatures associated with human disease.

Pubmed ID: 25030888 RIS Download

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Associated grants

  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 097945
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 088340
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 101126
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 077012/Z/05/Z
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 090944

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European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) (tool)

RRID:SCR_006515

Public archive providing a comprehensive record of the world''''s nucleotide sequencing information, covering raw sequencing data, sequence assembly information and functional annotation. All submitted data, once public, will be exchanged with the NCBI and DDBJ as part of the INSDC data exchange agreement. The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) captures and presents information relating to experimental workflows that are based around nucleotide sequencing. A typical workflow includes the isolation and preparation of material for sequencing, a run of a sequencing machine in which sequencing data are produced and a subsequent bioinformatic analysis pipeline. ENA records this information in a data model that covers input information (sample, experimental setup, machine configuration), output machine data (sequence traces, reads and quality scores) and interpreted information (assembly, mapping, functional annotation). Data arrive at ENA from a variety of sources including submissions of raw data, assembled sequences and annotation from small-scale sequencing efforts, data provision from the major European sequencing centers and routine and comprehensive exchange with their partners in the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC). Provision of nucleotide sequence data to ENA or its INSDC partners has become a central and mandatory step in the dissemination of research findings to the scientific community. ENA works with publishers of scientific literature and funding bodies to ensure compliance with these principles and to provide optimal submission systems and data access tools that work seamlessly with the published literature. ENA is made up of a number of distinct databases that includes the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database (Embl-Bank), the newly established Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and the Trace Archive. The main tool for downloading ENA data is the ENA Browser, which is available through REST URLs for easy programmatic use. All ENA data are available through the ENA Browser. Note: EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database (EMBL-Bank) is entirely included within this resource.

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Integrated Risk Information System (tool)

RRID:SCR_013005

IRIS is a toxicology data file on the National Library of Medicine''s (NLM) Toxicology Data Network. It contains data in support of human health risk assessment. It is compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and contains over 500 chemical records. It is a compilation of electronic reports on specific substances found in the environment and their potential to cause human health effects. IRIS was initially developed for EPA staff in response to a growing demand for consistent information on substances for use in risk assessments, decision-making and regulatory activities. The information in IRIS is intended for those without extensive training in toxicology, but with some knowledge of health sciences. The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is an electronic database containing information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various substances in the environment. IRIS is prepared and maintained by the EPAs National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The heart of the IRIS system is its collection of searchable documents that describe the health effects of individual substances and that contain descriptive and quantitative information in the following categories: -Noncancer effects: Oral reference doses and inhalation reference concentrations (RfDs and RfCs, respectively) for effects known or assumed to be produced through a nonlinear (possibly threshold) mode of action. In most instances, RfDs and RfCs are developed for the noncarcinogenic effects of substances. -Cancer effects: Descriptors that characterize the weight of evidence for human carcinogenicity, oral slope factors, and oral and inhalation unit risks for carcinogenic effects. Where a nonlinear mode of action is established, RfD and RfC values may be used.

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N2_(ancestral) (tool)

RRID:WB-STRAIN:WBStrain00000003

Caenorhabditis elegans with name C. elegans wild type (ancestral). from WB.

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