what is gremline genotype ?

Question

[mms140130]

Hello, ,,,,,Again I'm not a biologist ,,,, I'm reading a paper and they used gremlin genotype they said: "we obtained the germline genotypes from the normal blood sample" then used it is eQTL analysis

what is gremlin genotype and is it different from The SNP data from TCGA ?

Thanks,

[Denise CS]

The difference is that TCGA will contain somatic mutations too, not only germline ones.

Somatic mutations are acquired by a cell during the lifetime of the individual. These mutations (caused by UV for example) make this cell different from the progenitor fertilised egg. They are not inherited from parents and are not transmitted to offspring. The majority of cancers are linked to somatic mutations.

Although many people focus on studying somatic mutations in cancer (as these acquired mutations are the most common causes of cancer), germline mutations can lead to cancer too. They are far less common (accounting for up to 10% of cancers) and will be passed directly from a parent to a child. This means that every single cell of the patient (or animal) will have that mutation. Cancers caused by germline mutations are called inherited cancer, and it makes up about 5% to 10% of all cancers.

Answer 1

[Joe]

"germline" not "gremlin", the germline refers to gametes/reproductive cells. They're haploid, versus the rest of the body which is diploid. I can't tell you how it's different from the TCGA data though.

[Denise CS]

To be far, my editor just autocorrected 'germline' to 'gremlin'.