Figure 3.

Estimating the age when germline mutation accumulation rates are established. The germline mutation rates plotted in Fig. 1 are again plotted here, but with the x and y axes flipped. Analyzed in this way, the y intercepts of the linear regression lines, when mutation counts would be zero, provide approximate lower bounds for the ages when the observed mutation accumulation rates (slopes of the regression lines) were established: about 14 years for males (panel a) and 18 years for females (panel b). Germline mutation rate = (#germline autosomal mutations)/(#diploid autosomal callable base pairs).