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Although mutations that cause changes in protein sequences can be harmful to an organism, on occasions the effect may be positive in a given environment. In this case, the mutation may enable the mutant organism to withstand particular environmental stresses better than wild-type organisms, or reproduce more quickly.
DNA may be modified, either naturally or artificially, by a number of physical, chemical and biological agents, resulting in mutations. Hermann Muller found that "high temperatures" have the ability to mutate genes in the early 1920s, [2] and in 1927, demonstrated a causal link to mutation upon experimenting with an x-ray machine, noting phylogenetic changes when irradiating fruit flies with ...
The following is a list of genetic disorders and if known, type of mutation and for the chromosome involved. Although the parlance "disease-causing gene" is common, it is the occurrence of an abnormality in the parents that causes the impairment to develop within the child.
Random mutations are the ultimate source of genetic variation. Mutations are likely to be rare, and most mutations are neutral or deleterious, but in some instances, the new alleles can be favored by natural selection. Polyploidy is an example of chromosomal mutation. Polyploidy is a condition wherein organisms have three or more sets of ...
Mutations in these cells are the only mutations that can be passed on to offspring, when either a mutated sperm or oocyte come together to form a zygote. [2] After this fertilization event occurs, germ cells divide rapidly to produce all of the cells in the body, causing this mutation to be present in every somatic and germline cell in the ...
The smallest single base deletion mutations occur by a single base flipping in the template DNA, followed by template DNA strand slippage, within the DNA polymerase active site. [3] [4] [5] Deletions can be caused by errors in chromosomal crossover during meiosis, which causes several serious genetic diseases.
An alternative strategy for insertional mutagenesis has been used in vertebrate animals to find genes that cause cancer. In this case a transposon, e.g. Sleeping Beauty, is designed to interrupt a gene in such a way that it causes maximal genetic havoc. Specifically, the transposon contains signals to truncate the expression of an interrupted ...
Long-term effects can be a permanent changing of a chromosome, which can lead to a mutation. These mutations can be either beneficial or detrimental. Cancer is an example of how they can be detrimental. [6] Other effects of point mutations, or single nucleotide polymorphisms in DNA, depend on the location of the mutation within the gene.