Mutations

Question 1

What is a mutation?

Answer 1

A change in the DNA base sequence

Question 2

What is a point mutation?

Answer 2

A change in one of the bases

Question 3

What are the 4 types of mutations?

Answer 3

Substitution
Insertion
Deletion
Inversion

Question 4

What things cause mutations?

Answer 4

Chemicals
Radiation (X-rays)
UV light
Viruses

Question 5

Do silent mutations cause a change in amino acid?

Answer 5

No

Question 6

Does a nonsense mutation create a change?

Answer 6

Yes- a significant change

Question 7

What does a missense mutation cause?

Answer 7

A change in amino acid

Question 8

What does a frame shift mutation change?

Answer 8

Changes the number of nucleotides in the DNA sequence so its not divisible by 3

Question 9

How does a frame shift mutation create a significantly different protein?

Answer 9

Translation relies on reading triplets (codons)

Question 10

How can mutations sometimes not be a problem?

Answer 10

Amino acid may not be changed (degenerate)
Evolution- gives organisms a survival advantage- natural selection
Could occur in introns/non-coding DNA- gets spliced out anyway
May form the same shape- same bonds between the amino acid form
Mutations not in an enzyme’s active site (non-important part)