Skip Navigation



JXB Advance Access published online on May 10, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erj155
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
57/9/1847    most recent
erj155v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Whittle, C-A.
Right arrow Articles by Johnston, M. O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Whittle, C-A.
Right arrow Articles by Johnston, M. O.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Whittle, C-A.
Right arrow Articles by Johnston, M. O.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received October 21, 2005
Accepted February 6, 2006

OPINION PAPER

Moving forward in determining the causes of mutations: the features of plants that make them suitable for assessing the impact of environmental factors and cell age

C-A. Whittle 1 * and M. O. Johnston 2

1 Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
2 Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St., Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J1

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
C-A. Whittle, E-mail: whittle{at}zoology.ubc.ca


  Abstract

Currently, the types of factors that impact the mutation rate is a controversial issue. The marked attention towards identifying the factors that impact the genomic mutation rate is justified because mutations are the source of genetic variation underlying evolution and because many mutations have deleterious effects and can cause diseases. Although data showing correlations between germ cell division number and mutation rates (from epidemiological studies and molecular evolutionary rate analyses) have suggested that most mutations in animals are replication errors, this notion is highly debated and inconsistencies in the correlations suggest that other, replication-independent factors, could play an important role. Likely candidates include environmental parameters and cell age, but these issues have proved to be difficult to study using animals and in vitro systems, and consequently, very few or no data currently exist. The specific features of plants that make them powerful model systems for revealing the influence of the environment (natural environmental factors) and cell age on the spontaneous genomic mutation rate are discussed here. Overall, the evidence suggests that plants could be key biological systems for advancing our knowledge about how and why heritable mutations arise.

Keywords: Cell age; environment; genomic mutation rate; model system; plants.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
Z. Hock, P. Szovenyi, J. J. Schneller, Z. Toth, and E. Urmi
Bryophyte diaspore bank: a genetic memory? Genetic structure and genetic diversity of surface populations and diaspore bank in the liverwort Mannia fragrans (Aytoniaceae)
Am. J. Botany, May 1, 2008; 95(5): 542 - 548.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.