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LS12 - Life Sciences > Mutations > Flashcards

Flashcards in Mutations Deck (8)
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1
Q

Causes of mutations

A
  • exposure to radiation,
  • viruses,
  • faulty copying during transcription
2
Q

A change in the sequence of nucleotides in DNA

A

Mutation

3
Q

Mutation

A

Change in the sequence of nucleotides in DNA

4
Q

Types of mutations

(EXTENSION)

A
  • Point: single nucleotide change
  • Substitution: replacing one (or more) nucleotide(s) with another
  • Deletion: deleting one (or more) nucleotide(s) from the DNA
  • Insertion: adding one (or more) nucleotide(s) into the DNA
5
Q

The effect of a mutation could be…

A
  • beneficial - the change results in a new adaptation that makes the organism better suited to its environment (natural selection will favour this mutation)
  • neutral - no change as the same amino acid is coded for
  • harmful - the change results in a different protein, or no protein, being produced, which is harmful to the organism lethal - the change results in a non-viable cell/ zygote/ organism, which therefore dies.
6
Q

True or false: mutations are always harmful

A

False

7
Q

Frame shift

(EXTENSION)

A

A change in the way codons are read because nucleotide triplets shift as a result of a deletion or insertion

8
Q

Mutation (definition)

A

The alteration of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism