Rates and mechanisms of bacterial mutagenesis from maximum-depth sequencing.

ABSTRACT: In 1943, Luria and Delbrück used a phage-resistance assay to establish spontaneous mutation as a driving force of microbial diversity. Mutation rates are still studied using such assays, but these can only be used to examine the small minority of mutations conferring survival in a particular condition. Newer approaches, such as long-term evolution followed by whole-genome sequencing, may be skewed by mutational ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ spots. Both approaches are affected by numerous caveats. Here we devise a method, maximum-depth sequencing (MDS), to detect extremely rare variants in a population of cells through error-corrected, high-throughput sequencing. We directly measure locus-specific mutation rates in Escherichia coli and show that they vary across the genome by at least an order of magnitu

SUBMITTER: Jee J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4940094 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature