Common Duplications in Laboratory Stocks of Dictyostelium discoideum
Author Information
Author(s): Bloomfield Gareth, Tanaka Yoshimasa, Skelton Jason, Ivens Alasdair, Kay Robert R
Primary Institution: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK; The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
Hypothesis
Are duplications of stretches of the genome common in laboratory stocks of Dictyostelium discoideum?
Conclusion
Duplications are common in laboratory stocks of Dictyostelium discoideum and can affect phenotypic variation.
Supporting Evidence
- Duplications of 15 kb or more are common in the genome of Dictyostelium discoideum.
- Most stocks of the axenic strains Ax2 and Ax3/4 carry different duplications.
- Strain Ax3/4 has a large duplication on chromosome 2 that shows evidence of instability.
- Recent wild-type isolates show almost no large duplications but may have small deletions.
- Duplications can be stable enough to reconstruct genealogies spanning decades.
Takeaway
Scientists found that many lab strains of a tiny slime mold have extra copies of parts of their DNA, which can change how they look and behave.
Methodology
The study used array comparative genomic hybridization to survey various Dictyostelium laboratory strains and wild isolates for duplications.
Potential Biases
Potential contamination of strains could lead to misinterpretation of results.
Limitations
The study may not account for all possible duplications or variations in other strains not tested.
Participant Demographics
Laboratory stocks of Dictyostelium discoideum, primarily derived from the original type isolate NC4.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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