Biology subjects

Poon, Y. P. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Poon, Y. P. G..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Synonymous mutations reveal genome-wide driver mutation rates in healthy tissues

Genetic alterations that drive clonal expansions in ostensibly healthy tissues have implications for cancer risk. However, the total rate at which clonal expansions occur in healthy tissues remains unknown. Synonymous passenger mutations that hitchhike to high variant allele frequency due to a linked driver mutation can be used to estimate the total rate of positive selection across the genome. Because these synonymous hitchhikers are influenced by all mutations under selection, regardless of type or location, they can be used to estimate how many driver mutations are missed by narrow gene-focused sequencing panels. Here we analyse the variant allele frequency spectrum of synonymous passenger mutations to estimate the total rate at which mutations driving clonal expansions occur in healthy tissues. By applying our framework to data from physiologically healthy blood, we find that a large fraction of mutations driving clonal expansions occur outside of canonical cancer driver genes. In contrast, analysis of data from healthy oesophagus reveals little evidence for many driver mutations outside of those in NOTCH1 and TP53. Our framework, which generalizes to other tissues, sheds light on the fraction of drivers mutations that remain undiscovered and has implications for cancer risk prediction.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2019

The Evolutionary Dynamics and Fitness Landscape of Clonal Haematopoiesis

Somatic mutations acquired in healthy tissues as we age are major determinants of cancer risk. Whether variants confer a fitness advantage or rise to detectable frequencies by chance, however, remains largely unknown. Here, by combining blood sequencing data from [~]50,000 individuals, we reveal how mutation, genetic drift and fitness differences combine to shape the genetic diversity of healthy blood ( clonal haematopoiesis). By analysing the spectrum of variant allele frequencies we quantify fitness advantages for key pathogenic variants and genes and provide bounds on the number of haematopoietic stem cells. Positive selection, not drift, is the major force shaping clonal haematopoiesis. The remarkably wide variation in variant allele frequencies observed across individuals is driven by chance differences in the timing of mutation acquisition combined with differences in the cell-intrinsic fitness effect of variants. Contrary to the widely held view that clonal haematopoiesis is driven by ageing-related alterations in the stem cell niche, the data are consistent with the age dependence being driven simply by continuing risk of mutations and subsequent clonal expansions that lead to increased detectability at older ages.

genomics↗