The Effect of Local Sequence Context on Mutational Bias of Genes Encoded on the Leading and Lagging Strands

All organisms must replicate their genetic information accurately to ensure its faithful transmission. DNA polymerase errors provide an important source of genetic variation that can drive evolution. Understanding the origins of genetic variation will inform our understanding of evolution and the development of genetic diseases. A number of factors have been proposed to influence mutagenesis [1–10]. Here, we used mutation accumulation lines, whole-genome sequencing, and whole-transcriptome analysis to study the locations and rate at which mutations arise in bacteria with as little selection bias as possible [11, 12]. Our analysis of greater than 7,000 replication errors in over 180 sequenced lines that underwent a total of more than 370,000 generations has provided new insights into how DNA polymerase errors sculpt genetic variation and drive evolution. Homopolymer run enrichment outside of genes causes insertions and deletions in these regions. Genes encoded in the lagging strand are transcribed such that RNA polymerase and DNA polymerase collide head-on. Head-on genes have been proposed to mutate at a higher rate than genes transcribed codirectionally with DNA polymerase progression due to conflicts between transcription and DNA replication [6, 10]. We did not detect associations between the number of base pair substitutions in genes and their orientation or expression. Strikingly, any higher mutation rate for head-on genes can be explained by differing sequence composition between the leading and lagging strands and the error bias for DNA polymerase in specific sequence contexts. Therefore, we find local sequence context is the major determinant of mutagenesis in bacteria. •Intergenic regions are enriched for indels•Local sequence context strongly impacts DNA replication accuracy in vivo•Sequence context in head-on genes can lead to a higher mutation rate Schroeder et al. show that base pair substitutions made by the replicating DNA polymerase are highly biased to specific sequence contexts. This can drive DNA polymerase to make substitutions at a higher rate in genes encoded on the lagging strand compared to genes encoded on the leading strand due to differences in their sequence composition.