Exploiting sexual differences in germline biology to resolve the causes of germline mutation

Funded Activity Summary

Mutagenesis during the production of sex cells is a fundamental biological process and the cause of inherited human disorders. These disorders span the entire spectrum of diseases that have a genetic component, such as autoimmune diseases and cancers, therefore influencing all age groups. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying this process is a priority since it is the essential knowledge required for understanding all of the factors that contribute to this array of debilitating diseases, and for devising effective preventative and diagnostic measures. To attain this understanding necessitates establishing the mechanistic origins of germline mutagenesis. Two basic approaches are employed to understand this process. The first assesses the incidence of mutation in pedigrees. This identifies the spectrum of risk mutations underlying the specific disease surveyed. Because other biological processes also influence these observations, the results from this approach do not reflect the underlying germline mutation spectra and are therefore not translatable between diseases. As mutations are rare events, it is prohibitive to obtain sufficient observations to resolve the underlying mechanisms. The second approach employs comparative genomic data, and uses differences in germline biology to estimate sex-biased effects. This comparative approach benefits from the accumulation of mutations over vast periods of time. The approach has not, however, been applied to diagnose the mechanistic origins of mutations. In this project, we will apply the enormous volume of comparative sequencing data to relate components of the mutagenic spectrum with sexual differences in germline biology. The project will differentiate between different types of mutations, and their association with specific processes will be established. The results will be a determination of the relative contributions of different mechanisms of mutation to germline mutagenesis.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2006

End Date: 01-01-2008

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $315,914.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Molecular Evolution

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Age associated mutation risk | Bioinformatics | DNA methylation | Factors causing germline mutation | Germline mutation | Inherited disorders | Mutation risk assessment | Phylogeny based maximum-likelihood | Sex biased germline mutation

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