Theme 2D Flashcards
What are mutations?
Changes to the nucleic acid sequence (DNA and RNA)
How do mutations appear?
Inherited (germline) or not inherited (somatic)
What are the degrees of change from mutations?
Small (gene-level) or large (chromosomal)
What does an altered gene sequence change?
The amino acid sequence of a polypeptide resulting in variation of phenotype
What is the effect on the phenotype?
Harmless/neutral, harmful/deleterious, or beneficial/advantageous
Specifics of germline mutations
Sex influenced trait: an autosomal dominant trait that is dependent on sex
Only occurs in gametes
Specifics of somatic mutations
The mutation occurs in a progenitor cell and all other daughter cells will express the mutation (occurs in all cell types except gametes). Are expressed as sectors (size depends on time of mutation), i.e cancer
What is a base substitution?
A single nucleotide change as a result of point mutations
What is an insertion mutation?
One or more base pairs added in sequence during DNA replication usually resulting in a frameshift mutation
What is a deletion mutation?
One or more base pairs skipped during DNA replication usually resulting in frameshift mutations
What is a transition mutation?
Purine-to-purine or pyrimidine-to-pyrimidine changes
What is a transversion mutation?
Purine-to-pyrimidine or pyrimidine-to-purine changes
What is a missense/nonsynonymous mutation?
When a codon change causes a change in amino acid
What is a nonsense mutation?
Premature stop, sense codon changes into a stop codon
What is a silent/synonymous mutation?
When the codon does not change the amino acid due to the degeneracy of the genetic code
What is a frameshift mutation?
Insertion or deletion of a small number of base pairs that alter the reading frame
Which type(s) of mutation would have the most effect on the function of the polypeptide?
Nonsense or frameshift depending on location
What are the large-scale chromosomal mutations?
Deletion, Duplication/amplification, translocation, and inversion
What is a deletion (large-scale) mutation?
Loss of genes
What is a duplication/amplification mutation?
Increasing dosage of genes
What is a translocation mutation?
Interchange of genetic parts from non-homologous chromosomes
What is an inversion mutation?
Reversing the orientation of a segment of a chromosome
What is a spontaneous mutation?
Naturally occurring mutations caused by replication errors and spontaneous lesions (depurination and deamination of bases)
What is an induced mutation?
Natural/environmental or artificial agent or mutagen that causes mutations at a rate much higher than spontaneous mutations.
What do mutagens do?
Induce mutations by replacing a base, alter a base so it mispairs with another base, or damage a base where it can no longer pair with any base.
What do base analogs do?
Mimic bases and get incorporated into DNA, which can cause mispairing during DNA replication
What do some chemicals do?
Alter base structure to cause mispairing
What is an allele?
One of the different forms of a gene (sequence variation) which can cause different phenotypes
What is a wild-type allele?
The normal form of the gene found in nature or the standard laboratory strain of a model organism
What are loss-of-function alleles?
Mutations that reduce/eliminate gene function/expression
What are gain-of-function alleles?
Mutations that enhance gene function/expression
What is the eukaryotic cell cycle?
An ordered set of processes by which one cell grows and divides into two daughter cells.
Needs to fully replicate DNA and organelles and properly separate them into daughter cells.