Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Forster P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4345458 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Forster Peter P Hohoff Carsten C Dunkelmann Bettina B Schürenkamp Marianne M Pfeiffer Heidi H Neuhuber Franz F Brinkmann Bernd B
Proceedings. Biological sciences 20150301 1803
Men age and die, while cells in their germline are programmed to be immortal. To elucidate how germ cells maintain viable DNA despite increasing parental age, we analysed DNA from 24 097 parents and their children, from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We chose repetitive microsatellite DNA that mutates (unlike point mutations) only as a result of cellular replication, providing us with a natural 'cell-cycle counter'. We observe, as expected, that the overall mutation rate for fathers is seve ...[more]