Fitness and Genomic Consequences of Chronic Exposure to Low Levels of Copper and Nickel in Daphnia pulex Mutation Accumulation Lines.

ABSTRACT: In at least some unicellular organisms, mutation rates are temporarily raised upon exposure to environmental stress, potentially contributing to the evolutionary response to stress. Whether this is true for multicellular organisms, however, has received little attention. This study investigated the effects of chronic mild stress, in the form of low-level copper and nickel exposure, on mutational processes in Daphnia pulex using a combination of mutation accumulation, whole genome sequencing and life-history assays. After over 100 generations of mutation accumulation, we found no effects of metal exposure on the rates of single nucleotide mutations and of loss of heterozygosity events, the two mutation classes that occurred in sufficient numbers to allow statistical analysis. Similar

SUBMITTER: Bull JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6325897 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature