Mutation

Question 1

What is a mutation?

Answer 1

Any change to the quantity or the base sequence of the DNA

Question 2

When may mutations be inherited?

Answer 2

Mutations that form during the formation of gametes

Question 3

What is a gene mutation?

Answer 3

Any change to one or more nucleotide bases in DNA

Question 4

When can gene mutations arise?

Answer 4

Spontaneously during DNA replication

Question 5

What might a change in bases do to the protein?

Answer 5

Become different in shape and not function properly

Question 6

When may a deletion of bases occur?

Answer 6

When a nucleotide is lost from the normal DNA sequence

Question 7

What does one deleted nucleotide cause?

Answer 7

Causes all triplets in a sequence to be read differently

Question 8

What are changes in the structure or number of whole chromosomes called?

Answer 8

Chromosome mutations

Question 9

What are the 2 types of chromosome mutations?

Answer 9

Changes in whole sets of chromosomes and changes in the number of individual chromosomes

Question 10

When do changes in the whole sets of chromosomes occur?

Answer 10

When organisms have 3 or more sets of chromosomes rather then the usual 2

Question 11

When do changes in the number of individual chromosomes occur?

Answer 11

Sometimes individual homologous pairs of chromosomes fail to separate during meiosis. This is known as non disjunction