Paradigm of Genetic Mosaicism and Lone Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

This study reports atrial tissue genetic mosaicism of a novel loss-of-function Cx43 mutation associated with lone AF. These findings implicate somatic genetic defects of Cx43 as a potential cause of AF and support the paradigm that sporadic, nonfamilial cases of lone AF may arise from genetic mosaicism that creates heterogeneous coupling patterns, predisposing the tissue to reentrant arrhythmias.