What is a mutation in DNA?

Mutations. Definition. A Mutation occurs when a DNA gene is damaged or changed in such a way as to alter the genetic message carried by that gene. A Mutagen is an agent of substance that can bring about a permanent alteration to the physical composition of a DNA gene such that the genetic message is changed.

What is mutation in science definition?

A mutation is a change in a genetic sequence. Mutations include changes as small as the substitution of a single DNA building block, or nucleotide base, with another nucleotide base.

What causes mutation in the coding region of a gene?

Small-scale mutations. They are usually caused by transposable elements, or errors during replication of repeating elements. Insertions in the coding region of a gene may alter splicing of the mRNA ( splice site mutation ), or cause a shift in the reading frame ( frameshift ), both of which can significantly alter the gene product.

Is the genetic code of a protein unchanged?

Likewise, all the amino acids of a protein manufactured. Only a specific gene sequence can make a protein, change in it can’t do this. Therefore the genetic code of a gene should be unchanged or unmutated. “A set of rules, a cell uses to forms proteins is known as genetic code.”

What causes mutations in the DNA of an organism?

In biology, a mutation is the alteration of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication (especially during meiosis) or other types of damage to DNA (such as may be caused by exposure to radiation or carcinogens ),…

How are neutral mutations related to the molecular clock?

By effect on fitness. A neutral mutation has no harmful or beneficial effect on the organism. Such mutations occur at a steady rate, forming the basis for the molecular clock. In the neutral theory of molecular evolution, neutral mutations provide genetic drift as the basis for most variation at the molecular level.

What is a mutation in DNA? Mutations. Definition. A Mutation occurs when a DNA gene is damaged or changed in such a way as to alter the genetic message carried by that gene. A Mutagen is an agent of substance that can bring about a permanent alteration to the physical composition of a DNA gene…