Heterogeneous evolution of microsatellites revealed by reconstruction of recent mutation history in an invasive apomictic snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum

Heterogeneous patterns of microsatellite evolution present a major challenge for the development of mutation models, and an improved understanding of the determinants of variation in mutation rates and patterns among loci, alleles and taxa is required. A 19th Century bottleneck associated with the introduction of clones of the snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum to Britain presented an opportunity to reconstruct recent microsatellite evolution within the most common apomictic lineage. There was significant variation in both the number and step size of mutations among the seven loci studied. Patterns of mutability were consistent with higher mutation rates for di- than trinucleotides and for longer alleles at a locus. Mutation size was influenced in a more complex way, decreasing with relative allele length much more strongly for tri-, than dinucleotides. We found support for this latter, highly novel result in the literature via reanalysis of data in a recent genome-scan study of human microsatellites, which showed a similarly disparate pattern of length-dependence between di- and trinucleotides. In spite of the apomictic form of reproduction and an unusually strong excess of microsatellite contractions in P. antipodarum, there were notable similarities with mutation processes of human microsatellites, supporting the wider taxonomic generality of such evolutionary mechanisms.