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AAT Bioquest

What is a mutagen?

Posted February 1, 2024


Answer

A mutagen is any substance or agent that causes a mutation by altering the DNA sequence, resulting in DNA impairment. DNA is the hereditary material of living cells. An alteration in a DNA sequence changes the protein transcribed from it. Changes that occur in somatic cells are non-inheritable while changes that occur in germline cells are inheritable. 

Additional resources

Unboxing the molecular modalities of mutagens in cancer

DNA and RNA Quantitation

Gelite™ Green Nucleic Acid Gel Staining Kit