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Abascal F, Harvey LMR, Mitchell E, Lawson ARJ, Lensing SV, Ellis P, Russell AJC, Alcantara RE, Baez-Ortega A, Wang Y, Kwa EJ, Lee-Six H, Cagan A, Coorens THH, Chapman MS, Olafsson S, Leonard S, Jones D, Machado HE, Davies M, Øbro NF, Mahubani KT, Allinson K, Gerstung M, Saeb-Parsy K, Kent DG, Laurenti E, Stratton MR, Rahbari R, Campbell PJ, Osborne RJ, Martincorena I. Somatic mutation landscapes at single-molecule resolution. Nature 2021; 593:405-410. [PMID: 33911282 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03477-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 187] [Impact Index Per Article: 62.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Somatic mutations drive the development of cancer and may contribute to ageing and other diseases1,2. Despite their importance, the difficulty of detecting mutations that are only present in single cells or small clones has limited our knowledge of somatic mutagenesis to a minority of tissues. Here, to overcome these limitations, we developed nanorate sequencing (NanoSeq), a duplex sequencing protocol with error rates of less than five errors per billion base pairs in single DNA molecules from cell populations. This rate is two orders of magnitude lower than typical somatic mutation loads, enabling the study of somatic mutations in any tissue independently of clonality. We used this single-molecule sensitivity to study somatic mutations in non-dividing cells across several tissues, comparing stem cells to differentiated cells and studying mutagenesis in the absence of cell division. Differentiated cells in blood and colon displayed remarkably similar mutation loads and signatures to their corresponding stem cells, despite mature blood cells having undergone considerably more divisions. We then characterized the mutational landscape of post-mitotic neurons and polyclonal smooth muscle, confirming that neurons accumulate somatic mutations at a constant rate throughout life without cell division, with similar rates to mitotically active tissues. Together, our results suggest that mutational processes that are independent of cell division are important contributors to somatic mutagenesis. We anticipate that the ability to reliably detect mutations in single DNA molecules could transform our understanding of somatic mutagenesis and enable non-invasive studies on large-scale cohorts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Emily Mitchell
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | | | | | - Peter Ellis
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
- Inivata, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Megan Davies
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Nina F Øbro
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Krishnaa T Mahubani
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Surgery, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Kieren Allinson
- Cambridge Brain Bank, Division of the Human Research Tissue Bank, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Moritz Gerstung
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Hinxton, UK
| | - Kourosh Saeb-Parsy
- Department of Surgery, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - David G Kent
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Elisa Laurenti
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | | | - Peter J Campbell
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Robert J Osborne
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
- Biofidelity, Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge, UK.
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