TY - JOUR

T1 - A somatic genetic clock for clonal species

AU - Yu, Lei

AU - Renton, Jessie

AU - Burian, Agata

AU - Khachaturyan, Marina

AU - Bayer, Till

AU - Kotta, Jonne

AU - Stachowitz, John J.

AU - DuBois, Katherine

AU - Baums, Iliana B.

AU - Werner, Benjamin

AU - Reusch, Thorsten B. H.

PY - 2024/6/10

Y1 - 2024/6/10

N2 - Age and longevity are key parameters for demography and life-history evolution of organisms. In clonal species, a widespread life history among animals, plants, macroalgae and fungi, the sexually produced offspring (genet) grows indeterminately by producing iterative modules, or ramets, and so obscure their age. Here we present a novel molecular clock based on the accumulation of fixed somatic genetic variation that segregates among ramets. Using a stochastic model, we demonstrate that the accumulation of fixed somatic genetic variation will approach linearity after a lag phase, and is determined by the mitotic mutation rate, without direct dependence on asexual generation time. The lag phase decreased with lower stem cell population size, number of founder cells for the formation of new modules, and the ratio of symmetric versus asymmetric cell divisions. We calibrated the somatic genetic clock on cultivated eelgrass Zostera marina genets (4 and 17 years respectively). In a global data set of 20 eelgrass populations, genet ages were up to 1,403 years. The somatic genetic clock is applicable to any multicellular clonal species where the number of founder cells is small, opening novel research avenues to study longevity and, hence, demography and population dynamics of clonal species

AB - Age and longevity are key parameters for demography and life-history evolution of organisms. In clonal species, a widespread life history among animals, plants, macroalgae and fungi, the sexually produced offspring (genet) grows indeterminately by producing iterative modules, or ramets, and so obscure their age. Here we present a novel molecular clock based on the accumulation of fixed somatic genetic variation that segregates among ramets. Using a stochastic model, we demonstrate that the accumulation of fixed somatic genetic variation will approach linearity after a lag phase, and is determined by the mitotic mutation rate, without direct dependence on asexual generation time. The lag phase decreased with lower stem cell population size, number of founder cells for the formation of new modules, and the ratio of symmetric versus asymmetric cell divisions. We calibrated the somatic genetic clock on cultivated eelgrass Zostera marina genets (4 and 17 years respectively). In a global data set of 20 eelgrass populations, genet ages were up to 1,403 years. The somatic genetic clock is applicable to any multicellular clonal species where the number of founder cells is small, opening novel research avenues to study longevity and, hence, demography and population dynamics of clonal species

U2 - 10.1038/s41559-024-02439-z

DO - 10.1038/s41559-024-02439-z

M3 - Article

VL - 8

SP - 1327

EP - 1336

JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2397-334X

ER -