"The Harmful Mutation May Be Positively Selected Perhaps Because It Confers Some Benefit Within the Cellular Environment of the Testis"

Science 301 (5633): 606-607

Copyright © 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

DEVELOPMENT:
There's Something Curious About Paternal-Age Effects
James F. Crow
Gene mutation rates are higher in males than in females and increase with paternal age. In his Perspective, Crow explains unexpected results from a study of a congenital disease called Apert's syndrome in which the likelihood of a child developing the disease increases with the age of the father (Goriely et al.). The results of the new work imply that rather than sperm having a higher mutation rate, the harmful mutation may be positively selected perhaps because it confers some benefit within the cellular environment of the testis.

The author is in the Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. E-mail: jfcrow@facstaff.wisc.edu



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REPORTS
Evidence for Selective Advantage of Pathogenic FGFR2 Mutations in the Male Germ Line
Anne Goriely, Gilean A. T. McVean, Maria Röjmyr, Björn Ingemarsson, and Andrew O. M. Wilkie (1 August 2003)
Science 301 (5633), 643. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1085710]




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