Mutation Signatures Depend on Epigenomic Contexts

Abstract

Mutation signatures - the patterns of acquired genetic changes in somatic genomes - provide critical insights into DNA repair defects and exposure to mutagenic processes during development, aging, and cancer progression. Efforts to decipher the etiology of the emerging computationally predicted mutation signatures in cancer genomes are currently underway. Since chromatin and epigenomic contexts influence DNA damage and repair pathway choices, taking both epigenomic and sequence contexts of the mutations into consideration is likely to benefit interpretation of mutation signatures.

Keywords: DNA repair; epigenome; mutagenesis; mutation signature; somatic mutation.