Efficient detection of somatic mutations is important for the development of clinical molecular diagnostic assays. However, the detection of somatic mutations in tissue is confounded by dilution of the tumor cell population by normal cells. Laser microdissection allows enrichment for tumor-associated genetic alterations to take place at the level of cell selection, eliminating the need to enric...

somatic mutation: a mutation in a somatic cell; somatic mutations produce "mosaic" or "chimeric' organisms since they have sectors of cells with different genotypes. In some plants and fungi tissue from the "mutant" sector may be grown into a whole reproducing organism; some of our better apple varieties arose from mutant sectors on a tree. Somatic mutations in animals can lead to cancer when g...

All cancers originate from a single cell that starts to behave abnormally due to the acquired somatic mutations in its genome. Until recently, the knowledge of the mutational processes that cause these somatic mutations has been very limited. Recent advances in sequencing technologies and the development of novel mathematical approaches have allowed deciphering the patterns of somatic mutations...

How cell fate becomes restricted during somatic cell differentiation is a long-lasting question in biology. Epigenetic mechanisms not present in pluripotent cells and acquired during embryonic development are expected to stabilize the differentiated state of somatic cells and thereby restrict their ability to convert to another fate. The histone variant macroH2A acts as a component of an epigen...

Canadian and United States evaluations of Holstein bulls were compared for longevity and somatic cell score. A total of 13 236 bulls was evaluated for longevity with 462 bulls having evaluations in both countries, and 10 945 bulls evaluated for somatic cell score with 564 bulls having evaluations in both countries. Multiple across country evaluation procedures were used to estimate the genetic ...

Development of a 'gonidialess'/'somatic regenerator' double mutant of Volvox carteri was analyzed with a number of cell-type-specific cDNA probes that had been identified in a previous study. Whereas in wild-type strains somatic cells and gonidia (asexual reproductive cells) constitute two distinct cell lineages, in this mutant all cells first differentiate as somatic cells and then redifferent...