Hotspots of Human Mutation.

Mutation of the human genome results in three classes of genomic variation: single nucleotide variants; short insertions or deletions; and large structural variants (SVs). Some mutations occur during normal processes, such as meiotic recombination or B cell development, and others result from DNA replication or aberrant repair of breaks in sequence-specific contexts. Regardless of mechanism, mutations are subject to selection, and some hotspots can manifest in disease. Here, we discuss genomic regions prone to mutation, mechanisms contributing to mutation susceptibility, and the processes leading to their accumulation in normal and somatic genomes. With further, more accurate human genome sequencing, additional mutation hotspots, mechanistic details of their formation, and the relevance of hotspots to evolution and disease are likely to be discovered.

Auxotrophy-Based Detection of Hyperornithinemia in Mouse Blood and Urine

Abstract Gyrate atrophy of the choroid and retina (GACR) is a hereditary form of progressive blindness caused by homozygosity for loss-of-function mutations in the ornithine aminotransferase gene (Oat). The high levels of circulating ornithine that lead to ophthalmic symptoms in young adults are also displayed by 2 ornithine aminotransferase (OAT)-deficient mouse models of GACR. Here, we have developed an inexpensive and quantitative bacteria-based test for detecting hyperornithinemia in blood or urine samples from these mutant mice, a test that we suggest could be used to facilitate the identification and treatment of OAT-deficient humans before the onset of visual impairment.

The retarded hair growth (rhg) mutation in mice is an allele of ornithine aminotransferase (Oat).

Because of the similar phenotypes they generate and their proximate reported locations on Chromosome 7, we tested the recessive retarded hair growth (rhg) and frizzy (fr) mouse mutations for allelism, but found instead that these defects complement. To discover the molecular basis of rhg, we analyzed a large intraspecific backcross panel that segregated for rhg and restricted this locus to a 0.9 Mb region that includes fewer than ten genes, only five of which have been reported to be expressed in skin. Complementation testing between rhg and a recessive null allele of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 eliminated Fgfr2 as the possible basis of the retarded hair growth phenotype, but DNA sequencing of another of these candidates, ornithine aminotransferase (Oat), revealed a G to C transversion specifically associated with the rhg allele that would result in a glycine to alanine substitution at residue 353 of the gene product. To test whether this missense mutation might cause the mutant phenotype, we crossed rhg/rhg mice with mice that carried a recessive, perinatal-lethal, null mutation in Oat (designated OatΔ herein). Hybrid offspring that inherited both rhg and OatΔ displayed markedly delayed postnatal growth and hair development, indicating that these two mutations are allelic, and suggesting strongly that the G to C mutation in Oat is responsible for the retarded hair growth phenotype. Comparisons among +/+, rhg/+, rhg/rhg and rhg/OatΔ mice showed plasma ornithine levels and ornithine aminotransferase activities (in liver lysates) consistent with this assignment. Because histology of 7- and 12-month-old rhg/rhg and rhg/OatΔ retinas revealed chorioretinal degeneration similar to that described previously for OatΔ/OatΔ mice, we suggest that the rhg mutant may offer an ideal model for gyrate atrophy of the choroid and retina (GACR) in humans, which is also caused by the substitution of glycine 353 in some families.