CaltechAUTHORS
Published September 2, 2022 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Inheritance of somatic mutations by animal offspring

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Pennsylvania State University
  • 2. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 3. ROR icon Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Foundation
  • 4. ROR icon University of Amsterdam
  • 5. ROR icon Mote Marine Laboratory
  • 6. ROR icon University of Hawaii at Manoa

Abstract

Since 1892, it has been widely assumed that somatic mutations are evolutionarily irrelevant in animals because they cannot be inherited by offspring. However, some nonbilaterians segregate the soma and germline late in development or never, leaving the evolutionary fate of their somatic mutations unknown. By investigating uni- and biparental reproduction in the coral Acropora palmata (Cnidaria, Anthozoa), we found that uniparental, meiotic offspring harbored 50% of the 268 somatic mutations present in their parent. Thus, somatic mutations accumulated in adult coral animals, entered the germline, and were passed on to swimming larvae that grew into healthy juvenile corals. In this way, somatic mutations can increase allelic diversity and facilitate adaptation across habitats and generations in animals.

Additional Information

We would like to thank K. Stankiewicz and A. Nekrutenko for their bioinformatics assistance and D. Williams and M. Miller for field support of the 2017 experiment. We also thank M. Devlin-Durante for assistance with the microsatellite analysis. M. Hagedorn helped secure funding, led the cryopreservation work in Curaçao during coral spawning, and helped enable the larval shipment to Mote Marine Laboratory, as well as provided the crosses containing a high percentage of spontaneously developing eggs. K. O'Neil helped secure funding, reared coral larvae, and propagated microfragments to preserve access to the unique crosses and genotypes used in this study. We also thank A. Shantz, D. Flores, L. Tichy, C. Lager, K. Lohr, K. Latijnhouwers, and V. Chamberland for dive and laboratory support, as well as C. Osborne for manuscript edits. This work was supported by NOAA Office for Coastal Management grant NA17NOS4820083 (to I.B.B. and S.A.K.), National Science Foundation grant OCE-1537959 (to I.B.B.), the Human Frontier Science Program grant RGP0042/2020 (to I.B.B.), National Science Foundation grant IOS-1848671 (to K.L.M.), and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation (to K.L.M.).

Additional details

Identifiers

PMCID
PMC9432832
Eprint ID
117863
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20221114-805533100.18

Funding

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NA17NOS4820083
NSF
OCE-1537959
Human Frontier Science Program
RGP0042/2020
NSF
IOS-1848671
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

Dates

Created
2022-11-29
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2022-11-29
Created from EPrint's last_modified field