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Landscape of Somatic Mutations in B Lymphocytes Across Human Lifespan

The accumulation of spontaneous mutations in somatic cells has been implicated as a cause of aging since 1950. Yet, attempts to establish a causal relationship between somatic mutations and aging have been constrained by the lack of methods to directly identify mutational events in primary human tissues. Using a highly accurate single-cell whole-genome sequencing method, we analyzed human B lymphocytes from donors varying in age from birth to over 100 years, studying both genome distribution and functional impact of base substitution mutations.