What are the major types of mutations?
Posted March 25, 2021
Answer
Several types of mutations can occur in an organism. Seven of the major types of mutations include:
- Missense mutation - is a point mutation where a change in a single DNA base pair produces a codon that codes for a different amino acid in the resulting protein.
- Nonsense mutation - is a point mutation where a change in a single DNA base pair results in a stop codon.
- Insertion mutation - is a mutation where one or more DNA base pairs are added to a DNA sequence.
- Deletion mutation - is a mutation where one or more DNA base pairs are removed from a DNA sequence during DNA replication.
- Duplication mutation - is a chromosomal mutation where a section of a chromosome is replicated one or more times.
- Frameshift mutation - is a mutation where the addition or removal of DNA base pairs alters the DNA sequence's reading frame such that it is not divisible by three.
- Repeat expansion - is a mutation where a short DNA sequence is repeated multiple times in a row
Additional resources