Somatic mutations take place in non-reproductive cells. Many kinds of somatic mutations have no obvious effect on an organism, because genetically normal body cells are able to compensate for the ...

Acquired DNA mutations found in the SERPINA1 gene can protect liver cells from damage in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin ...

The way in which blood stem cells evolve over a lifespan differs greatly between humans and mice, new research reveals. The ...

Researchers make hiPSCs by harvesting somatic cells—often from skin—from a person and then reprogramming them to enter an embryonic-like state. Nik-Zainal says that she and her colleagues were clued ...

Some related terminology is “germline” versus “somatic” mutation. A mutation in the germline affects the genes in the cells ...

The way in which blood stem cells evolve over a lifespan differs greatly between humans and mice, new research reveals. The ...

Neurons collected from brain lesions in MS patients were found to accumulate new genetic mutations faster than healthy nerve ...

“It’s the first report of somatic mutations being passed [via reproductive cells] in an animal, as far as I can tell,” says Daniel Schoen, an evolutionary biologist at McGill University who was not ...

In cancer, one of the leading causes of death in the US, cells divide wildly out of control. Can tumor suppressor genes and proto-oncogenes provide clues on how to stop this process? Aa Aa Aa ...

The research shows that germline and somatic variability work together to initiate ... While both types start from the same ...

Mutations in the BRCA1 gene that are either inherited (germline) or acquired (somatic) might not be key ... which block the ability of cells, including cancer cells, to repair DNA damage, in ...