The genome-wide rate and spectrum of spontaneous mutations differs between haploid and diploid yeast

Abstract By altering the dynamics of DNA replication and repair, alternative ploidy states may experience different rates and types of new mutations, leading to divergent evolutionary outcomes. We report the first direct comparison of the genome-wide spectrum of spontaneous mutations arising in haploid and diploid forms of the budding yeast. Characterizing the number, types, locations, and effects of thousands of mutations revealed that haploids were more prone to single-nucleotide and mitochondrial mutations, while larger structural changes were more common in diploids. Mutations were more likely to be detrimental in diploids, even after accounting for the large impact of structural changes, contrary to the prediction that diploidy masks the effects of recessive alleles. Haploidy is expected to reduce the opportunity for conservative DNA repair involving homologous chromosomes, increasing the insertion-deletion rate, but we found little support for this idea. Instead, haploids were more susceptible to particular single-nucleotide mutations in late-replicating genomic regions, resulting in a ploidy difference in the spectrum of substitutions. In diploids we detect mutation rate variation among chromosomes in association with centromere location, a finding that is supported by published polymorphism data. Diploids are Saccharomyces cerevisiae not simply doubled haploids; instead, our results predict that the spectrum of spontaneous mutations will substantially shape the dynamics of genome evolution in haploid and diploid populations.