High-throughput sequencing in mutation detection: A new generation of genotoxicity tests?
The advent of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology has provided the means to directly analyze the genetic material in primary cells or tissues of any species in a high throughput manner for mutagenic effects of potential genotoxic agents. In principle, direct, genome-wide sequencing of human primary cells and/or tissue biopsies would open up opportunities to identify individuals possibly exposed to mutagenic agents, thereby replacing current risk assessment procedures based on surrogate markers and extrapolations from animal studies. NGS-based tests can also precisely characterize the mutation spectra induced by genotoxic agents, improving our knowledge of their mechanism of action. Thus far, NGS has not been widely employed in genetic toxicology due to the difficulties in measuring low-abundant somatic mutations. Here, we review different strategies to employ NGS for the detection of somatic mutations in a cost-effective manner and discuss the potential applicability of these methods in testing the mutagenicity of genotoxic agents.
Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461, USA. Electronic address: alex.maslov@einstein.yu.edu.
Alexander Y
AY
Maslov
Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Wilber
W
Quispe-Tintaya
Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Tatyana
T
Gorbacheva
Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Ryan R
RR
White
Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461, USA. Electronic address: Jan.Vijg@einstein.yu.edu.
Jan
J
Vijg
D000818:Animals; D004249:DNA Damage; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation
Genetic toxicology; Genome rearrangement; Mutagenicity; Mutation; Next generation sequencing