{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T16:50:01Z","timestamp":1791996601890,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790899200000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":1,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790899200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":1,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000192","name":"National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA19NMF0080078"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA19NMF0080078"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000192","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Molecular Ecology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Somatic genetic variation (SoGV) accumulates during an organism's lifetime and is traditionally viewed as detrimental rather than adaptive due to links with cancer and senescence. However, in modular organisms like corals, deleterious mutations can be purged at the cellular or polyp level, while adaptive mutations may rise in frequency as polyps create genetically distinct modules. Quantifying the somatic genetic landscape in corals is necessary to understand the role these mutations may have in coral and clonal animal development and evolution. Here, we catalogue somatic genetic variation in eight\n                    <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">\n                      <jats:italic>Acropora palmata<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:styled-content>\n                    colonies from Cura\u00e7ao. Whole genomes were sequenced (70\u2013100\u00d7 depth) to document mutation variant allele frequency shifts as genets age. Large numbers of SoGVs were observed in six\u2010 to ten\u2010year\u2010old colonies, and inferred mutation rates were used to age a genet of uncertain age to almost a century old. Mutations were not fixed at the polyp or branch levels, i.e., they always displayed frequencies &lt;\u20090.5 as expected at mutating homozygous sites. However, their allele frequencies followed a power\u2010law distribution, similar to aging human tissues. No signs of positive selection were found; instead SoGVs were under purifying selection. In one colony, mutations in 28 samples from along a branch were analysed using a SNP microarray. Contrary to expectations, genetic and physical distances were unrelated. Along with an observed lack of fixation this pattern may be explained by a large stem cell population, the de\u2010differentiation or dormancy of stem cells, the contribution of strong purifying selection, or a combination of the previously mentioned. Our findings provide a neutral framework against which to test for module\u2010level selection of genetic variation in corals, explore the relationship between physical and genetic distance within a colony, and apply a somatic genetic clock to colonies of\n                    <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">\n                      <jats:italic>Acropora palmata<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:styled-content>\n                    . This work provides fundamental insights into the landscape of somatic mutations in reef\u2010building coral, highlighting the importance of studying somatic genetic variation as they may contribute to genetic diversity and adaptability in colonial animals.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/mec.70580","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,3]],"date-time":"2026-10-03T06:55:50Z","timestamp":1791010550000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mosaic Accumulation of Somatic Genetic Variation and Estimates of Age in the Long\u2010Lived Reef\u2010Building Coral\n                    <scp>\n                      <i>Acropora palmata<\/i>\n                    <\/scp>"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"35","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8012-5265","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Trinity","family":"Conn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology The Pennsylvania State University  University Park Pennsylvania USA"},{"name":"Conservation Research Department John G. Shedd Aquarium  Chicago Illinois USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jessie","family":"Renton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London  London UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1211-6575","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valerie F.","family":"Chamberland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SECORE International  Miami Florida USA"},{"name":"CARMABI Foundation  Willemstad Cura\u00e7ao"},{"name":"Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam  Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4102-1492","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zoe","family":"Dellaert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology The Pennsylvania State University  University Park Pennsylvania USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8961-4337","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thorsten B. H.","family":"Reusch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"GEOMAR Helmholtz\u2010Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Marine Evolutionary Ecology  Kiel Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benjamin","family":"Werner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London  London UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6463-7308","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Iliana B.","family":"Baums","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology The Pennsylvania State University  University Park Pennsylvania USA"},{"name":"Helmholtz\u2010Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg [HIFMB]  Oldenburg Germany"},{"name":"Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz\u2010Centre for Polar and Marine Research [AWI]  Bremerhaven Germany"},{"name":"Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), School of Mathematics and Science Carl von Ossietzky Universit\u00e4t Oldenburg  Oldenburg Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.1000454"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/284395"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1890\/0012-9615(2006)076[0503:GVICSI]2.0.CO;2"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_5_1","article-title":"Calling Somatic SNVs and Indels With Mutect2","volume":"861","author":"Benjamin D.","year":"2019","journal-title":"bioRxiv: The Preprint Server for Biology"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.73577"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_7_1","article-title":"Inducing Complete Polyp Regeneration From the Aboral Physa of the Starlet Sea Anemone \n                     Nematostella vectensis","volume":"119","author":"Bossert P.","year":"2017","journal-title":"Journal of Visualized Experiments"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2016.03.067"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/brv.12391"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-022-04618-z"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12859-020-03863-1"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0094837300008988"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btx364"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_14_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"The Igraph Software Package for Complex Network Research","volume":"1695","author":"Csardi G.","year":"2006","journal-title":"InterJournal, Complex Systems"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/gigascience\/giab008"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/mec.13865"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.1313"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2019.00676"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3354\/meps007207"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cdev.2023.203846"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.209.4457.713"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1890\/0012-9658(2000)081[2250:RFLHAL]2.0.CO;2"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00338-017-1602-9"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.281"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-69101-z"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/jmse12020343"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btp324"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_28_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022-0981(00)00205-7"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467\u2010024\u201047541\u20109"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_30_1","article-title":"Genome Assemblies and Genetic Maps Highlight Chromosome\u2010Scale Macrosynteny in Atlantic Acroporids","volume":"2023","author":"Locatelli N. 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