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somatic mutation
A DNA mutation that occurs after conception and can be present in all cells in the body except germ cells (sperm and egg), so it is not passed on to offspring. These alterations may cause cancer or other diseases. It is also known as somatic variant.
Grammatical category Noun
Field Genetics
Level of specialization High
Definition source Instituto Nacional del Cáncer
Variants
Antonym
germline mutation
Formal
Synonym
Formal
Equivalents

Spanish

mutación somática

Valenciano

mutació somàtica
Associated concepts
May cause
cancer; accelerate cellular aging; non-hereditary diseases
Caused by
spontaneous errors during DNA replication and repair; normal metabolic processes (producing free radicals); environmental stressors like UV light; tobacco smoke; chemicals; radiation
Is accompanied by
DNA damage
Examples
Recent somatic mutation analyses support that adenomyotic lesions and eutopic endometrium share the same epithelial progenitor cell (Inoue et al., 2019). 
Approximately, 70–75% of patients with ULs present somatic mutations of the MED12 gene (Mäkinen et al., 2011; Osinovskaya et al., 2016) that encodes a subunit of an RNA polymerase II regulator complex (Bulun, 2013). 
Collocations
WITH VERBS
support | present somatic mutations

WITH ADJECTIVES
recent somatic mutation

WITH NOUNS
somatic mutation analyses 
MED12 gene somatic mutations