Slipping while sleeping? Trinucleotide repeat expansions in germ cells

Trinucleotide expansions cause at least 30 diseases including Huntingtonʹs disease (HD). Many are inherited predominantly through paternal transmissions, which are probably the result of germ-cell-specific mutations. A recent study of testicular germ cells in HD patients revealed that expansions occur in diploid cells before the completion of meiosis. Therefore, expansions are not limited to the late-haploid spermatids, in which the genome is ‘sleeping’. These results have implications both for research aimed at understanding the transmission of this serious mutation and for developing new therapies for the disease.