Measuring mutation accumulation in single human adult stem cells by whole-genome sequencing of organoid cultures

Myrthe Jager, Francis Blokzijl, Valentina Sasselli, Sander Boymans, Roel Janssen, Nicolle J M Besselink, Hans Clevers, Ruben Van Boxtel, Edwin Cuppen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Characterization of mutational processes in adult stem cells (ASCs) will improve our understanding of aging-related diseases, such as cancer and organ failure, and may ultimately help prevent the development of these diseases. Here, we present a method for cataloging mutations in individual human ASCs without the necessity of using error-prone whole-genome amplification. Single ASCs are expanded in vitro into clonal organoid cultures to generate sufficient DNA for accurate whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis. We developed a data-analysis pipeline that identifies with high confidence somatic variants that accumulated in vivo in the original ASC. These genome-wide mutation catalogs are valuable resources for the characterization of the underlying mutational mechanisms. In addition, this protocol can be used to determine the effects of culture conditions or mutagen exposure on mutation accumulation in ASCs in vitro. Here, we describe a protocol for human liver ASCs that can be completed over a period of 3-4 months with hands-on time of â 1/45 d.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)59-78
Number of pages20
JournalNature Protocols
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Adult Stem Cells
  • Cells, Cultured
  • DNA
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans
  • Liver
  • Mutation
  • Mutation Accumulation
  • Organoids
  • Whole Genome Sequencing

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