Allometric scaling of somatic mutation and epimutation rates in trees

Abstract

How long-lived trees escape "mutational meltdown" despite centuries of continuous growth remains puzzling. Here we integrate recent studies to show that the yearly rate of somatic mutations and epimutations (Y) scales inversely with generation time (G), and follows the same allometric power law found in mammals (Y{propto}G-1). Deeper insights into the scaling function will permit predictions of somatic (epi)mutation rates from life-history traits without the need for genomic data.