Abstract.
Analysis of mutations in mitochondrial DNA is an important issue in population and evolutionary genetics. To study spontaneous base substitutions in human mitochondrial DNA we reconstructed the mutational spectra of the hypervariable segments I and II (HVS I and II) using published data on polymorphisms from various human populations. An excess of pyrimidine transitions was found both in HVS I and II regions. By means of classification analysis numerous mutational hotspots were revealed in these spectra. Context analysis of hotspots revealed a complex influence of neighboring bases on mutagenesis in the HVS I region. Further statistical analysis suggested that a transient misalignment dislocation mutagenesis operating in monotonous runs of nucleotides play an important role for generating base substitutions in mitochondrial DNA and define context properties of mtDNA. Our results suggest that dislocation mutagenesis in HVS I and II is a fingerprint of errors produced by DNA polymerase γ in the course of human mitochondrial DNA replication
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Electronic Publication
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malyarchuk, B.A., Rogozin, I.B., Berikov, V.B. et al. Analysis of phylogenetically reconstructed mutational spectra in human mitochondrial DNA control region. Hum Genet 111, 46–53 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-002-0740-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-002-0740-4