Gene mutation

Substituation of bases:

• A nucleotide in a DNA molecule is replaced by another nucleotide that has a different base
• The polypeptide produced will differ in a single amino acid
• The significance of this difference will depend upon the precise role of the original amino acid
• The replacement amino acid may not form the same bonds and therefor the protein may be a different shape
• The effect of the mutation is different if the new triplet bases still code for the same amino acid as before, this is due to the degenerate nature of the genetic code

Deletion of bases:

• When a nucleotide is…