Lecture 9 Flashcards
Mutation
heritable changes in DNA
the source of new genotypes
Gene transfer
DNA exchange between cells
the spread of new genotypes
genotype mutations
change in the genomes of organisms
wild-type and mutant
phenotype mutations
change in observable properties of organisms
- some genotype mutations change phenotype
example: nonmotile flagella, pigment-less, and auxotroph
Auxotroph
loss of enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway
phenotype mutation
leads to nutritional deficiency
Point mutations
single nucleotide change
substitution
Frameshift mutations
insertion or deletion of nucleotides
indel
Types of point mutations
transition, transversion, silent, nonsense, missense, and reversions
transition point mutation
purine to purine or pyrimidine to pyrimidine
transversion point mutations
purine to pyrimidine or pyrimidine to purine
Silent point mutation
same amino acid due to redundancy of genome
nonsense point mutation
stop codon
leads to incomplete protein
missense
different amino acid
leads to faulty protein
reversions
back mutations– “mutation of a mutant”
occurs over multiple generation
changes from mutant to wild type
types of frameshift mutations
insertions and deletions
both shift the reading frame
insertions
adding nucleotides
deletions
removing nucleotides
Spontaneous mutations (natural)
due to errors in DNA replication
DNA polymerase is not 100% accurate
happens inside of the cell (occurrence: 1 in a billion base pairs)
- just enough for adaptive variability
Induced mutations
come from outside the cell (much higher rate of occurrence)
due to external agents (e.g. chemicals)
“mutagens”
mutation balance
lethal mutations vs. adaptive mutations
Mutagens
agents that increase mutation rates
physical, chemical, and biological
Physical mutagens
Ultraviolet radiation (pyrimidine dimers) and ionizing (x-rays) breaks DNA strands
Chemical mutagens
nucleotide base analogs, chemical modifiers, and intercalating agents
Nucleotide base analogs
resemble DNA bases
causes point mutations
incorporated