Questions tagged [mutations]
A change in an organism's genomic sequence.
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How do mutations with very little fitness benefit get fixed?
I have one little issue with evolutionary theory that I have not been able to understand.
Suppose genetic mutations happen from generation to generation. Nevertheless, from one generation to the next ...
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If mutations are random, why was there just one kind of finches on every Galapagos island?
When Darwin was observing the Galapagos finches he noticed that there was a different kind on each island. The biggest difference was in their beaks. Darwin concluded that the birds had evolved and ...
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I wonder if one of the biggest problems in dealing (treatement) with gene mutation, is when the protein encoded, is used inside the cell
I wonder if one of the biggest problems in dealing (treatement) with gene mutation, is when the protein encoded, is used inside the cell, because, if the potein is secreted (for example: the Hormone) ...
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Are STOP codons impacted by base insertion or deletion mutation?
I am learning about base insertion and deletion mutations. An example in my textbook is given below.
GUU CCA CAU AUC.
So if there is an insertion (of guanine):
GUU GCC ACA UAU C_ _ (there will be a ...
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4answers
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Are mutations a source of genetic variation?
Here is a question from the book SAT II Success Biology E/M (where the SAT is the exam taken by the American high school students):
Which of the following statements is true about mutations?
(A) ...
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How to find which mutation in a protein is related to a disease?
I have the FGFR3 protein in UniProt and they ask me to find which of the following four mutations is related to a disease: N98F, P64K, T79S, or F384L. Where can I find such information?
Thanks
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Is transition more common than transversion during the evolution of duplicated genes?
Transitions are base mutations of purine to purine (A <-> G) or pyrimidine to pyrimidine (C <-> T). Transversions are purine to pyrimidine or vice versa (A <-> C, A <-> T, G <-> C, G &...
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1answer
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About Frameshift Mutation
I am coding a DNA translater, based on the homosapiens genome, & i knowing that the data provided from NCBI is surely not 100% precise (there may be some base changes / removes etc...)
, & i ...
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Is there an existing database of mutation rates for mitochondrial loci?
I'm wondering if there exists a database of mutation rates (transitions and transversions) for both mitochondrial loci (such as cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)).
Due to the use of COI as a DNA ...
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How having sickle cell trait would provide resistance to malarial parasites?
It's mentioned in my textbook that subjects with sickle cell trait develop resistance to malaria. I've read a few research papers predisposing involvement of macrophages and papers asserting ...
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1answer
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Why is the relative expression in qPCR so low?
When analyzing different mutations through qPCR I found the $2^{-\Delta\Delta ct}$ value for each mutation. All the mutation have similar values compared to the wild type gene, however one of the ...
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How diverse are the sperm cells of an individual male due to random mutations?
Due to the sheer number of sperm cells in an individual and the rate of mutations, are they likely to be incredibly diverse and encompass most of what we see across our species? For instance would it ...
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For long term survival of a species in a harsh environment which is more important-mutation or evolution?
The environment is the ultimate cause of population stabilization. Considering the environment to turn harsh for the survival of a species.How to adapt better to this change-by evolution or by ...
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1answer
80 views
Will humans ever evolve to cope with the rising temperature of our planet? [closed]
I am a complete layman of this field(Biology).I went through an article about global temperature rise and i wanted to ask this question.
Federal science agencies announced Wednesday that 2016 was ...
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1answer
46 views
How much generation of hamster's family it takes to get first bad mutations [closed]
So if I have two humsters and they start to reproduce themselfs then how much generations of hamster's family it takes to get first bad mutations?
The info here does not help to find answer https://...
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1answer
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Neutral genetic mutations in eukaryotic cells [closed]
Why are most mutations in eukaryotic cells neutral? i.e. have no effect on the phenotype.
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1answer
59 views
Why are not both alleles knocked out at the same time in knock out mouse?
I was reading this little 'article' about homologous recombination and knockout mouse. According to this article you first remove embryonic stem cells from a gray-fur blastocyst, then insert the ...
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What is the difference between silent and synonymous mutations?
Several sources all caution that silent mutations and synonymous substitutions are not the same thing and should not be confused. But they seem to draw different actual distinctions between the terms:
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Insertion of an additional base at start codon make the protein still functional?
So the question is if:
a deletion of a codon for the amino acid lysine (AAG) is more or less likely to cause nonfunctionality of the protein than:
Insertion of an additional base (C) within the ...
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Pompe Disease/ GSD II karyotype
Does anyone know of a karyotype of the DNA of someone with Pompe Disease? It would appear because of the rarity of Pompe Disease that there aren't any/very many karyotypes of a person with it although ...
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Mutation on Plants - SSLP Mapping
If you are inspecting a mutation on a plant, how to calculate the number of sample plants you would need to determine what BAC in the plant has the mutation?
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Why does DNA mutate?
I just read that pregnancy in space would be super dangerous because - among other reasons - of a higher risk of mutations due to radiation. This made me wonder: why does the DNA in organisms mutate? ...
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1answer
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How many possible human genotypes are there that produce distinct phenotypes?
This and this Quora question ask how many unique human genotypes are possible. The answers take the combinatorial approach of raising the 4 possible base pairs to a power which is some appreciable ...
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DNA replication during Mitosis
I am a bit confused.
During Meiosis, DNA is replicated to form a cell with half the DNA and likely to have variations.
But since the replication process of meiosis and mitosis are the same, why do DNA ...
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1answer
64 views
Are mutations the cause of alleles?
For example, some leopards have a mutation which causes black fur. So Black fur and normal fur colour (orange-white) are both alternate forms of the same gene, right? So does that mean that mutations ...
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Mutations in organisms
I was researching mutations and came across an interesting question:
Do mutations occur in the DNA or mRNA of an organism? Is this more opinion that science?
Thanks in advance!
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How is single nucleotide polymorphism denoted?
Currently I'm studying an article on TERT promoter mutations in human melanoma and find myself unfamiliar with included denotations,I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me what C228T in ...
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Why are tumor suppressor genes recessive?
In my Intro. to Biochemistry course, we have been studying cancer. The professor has pointed out that tumor suppressor genes are "recessive" while proto-oncogenes are "dominant". Since only one ...
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1answer
379 views
What is the opposite of a mutation (the regular state)?
What is the term, if there is one, to describe the natural state of a gene? The one single word to describe it, just like mutation is the one single word do describe a deviation from that state.
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Can mutation rate be selected for?
Can the mutability of DNA be selected for in a population? I don’t mean selection for the phenotype that is the result of a mutation. Rather, can the rate of mutations in a population be increased by ...
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3answers
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How come our thyroid glands don't suffer awful mutations (or do they)?
I was listening to a lecture by my Biology professor and he said that the thyroid gland contains radioactive Iodine which can break down and create reactive Oxygen species (because ionizing radiation ...
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3answers
573 views
Are the changes required to produce genetically manipulated organisms (GMOS) considered to be mutations
By definition, are mutations required to be natural, or are synthetic lab-induced genetic changes considered mutations too? Furthermore, are genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs) considered forced ...
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1answer
80 views
What is functional dissection?
Reading [1] I found the sentence:
Consistently, functional dissection of mouse and human wild-type and mutant RAS isogenic leukemia cells demonstrated induction of methotrexate resistance but also ...
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1answer
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Importance of germline and somatic genomic mutations to the purpose of treatment in cancer
Is there a hierarchy in the sets of genomic mutations (somatic and germline) to the purpose of treatment in cancer?
Can they be considered at the same level in the context of targeted therapy or are ...
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Are mutations random?
The following claim
Mutations are random
or just the use of the expression
Random mutations
are very common among lay people.
The claim is very common among lay people. The claim is often ...
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2answers
314 views
How can just random mutations explain mimicry? [closed]
I have been reading this article on drug resistance which explained that how random mutations in a bacterial colony can lead to development of drug resistance among some organisms in that colony.
A ...
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1answer
1k views
Why does chromosome inversion happen?
I read that chromosome inversion is a type of genetic mutation.
Why does inversion happen? What is the purpose?
I also read that if genes do not match up during cross over between inverted ...
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1answer
272 views
How does hibernation reduce risk of radiation-induced mutation?
A recent documentary (skip to 58:20) discusses the possibility that hibernation, if it could be induced in extrasolar astronauts, would reduce damage from cosmic radiation. The obvious reason this ...
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What hold and inject pressure to be used in microinjection?
I am planning to set up micro-injection apparatus in our lab. Normally what hold and inject pressures are used to inject DNA in fly embryo? I couldn't find in any literature as far as I've come across....
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Do organisms have a mechanism to control how fast mutations occur?
Sometimes the environment and other species can change rapidly (climate changes, changes in terrains from erosion, new river paths, etc), and it seems like a regular slow mutation rate would be bad, ...
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1answer
159 views
How much variation in mutation rate in there in the human genome?
In humans, the average mutation rate is estimated to be around $2.5 \cdot 10^{-8}$ (Nachman and Crowell, 2000). Of course this mutation varies from sequence to sequence.
Can you please give some ...
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1answer
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Estimation of cases with dominant inheritance
I am reading [1] and I didn't understand this passage:
All bilateral cases should be counted as hereditary because the proportion of affected offspring closely approximates the 50% expected with ...
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1answer
561 views
Effect of mutation on phenotype
Is there a type of mutation that changes the phenotype of an organism, but not the protein sequence?
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2answers
42 views
Mutated cell proliferation
Reading Jennifer Doudna's fascinating book on CRISPR. So she describes rare cases where a mutation in a single cell removes the gene responsible for a genetic disease. The cell proliferates and the ...
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How to interpret figure on somatic mutation frequencies
In paper Mutational heterogeneity in cancer and the search for new cancer-associated genes, Figure 1 defines:
Somatic mutation frequencies observed in exomes from 3,083 tumour–normal pairs. Each ...
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Do exon deletions in C.elegans mutants necessarily result in nonsense mediated decay of the transcript?
I am trying to write out my research proposal about a project in C.elegans. There are multiple mutants of the factor that I want to study, each with different mutations. I know that a mutation that ...
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1answer
37 views
HAR1 speedy mutation
From wiki:
Human accelerated region 1 (HAR1) is a segment of the human genome found on the long arm of chromosome 20. It is a Human accelerated region. [..] These 49 regions represent parts of the ...
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1answer
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Can we measure the rate of mutation in (say) E. coli without gel electrophoresis or genome sequencing? [closed]
If so, how? And, what are the pros and cons?
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How do we explain the white feathers of an albino peacock?
Peacock feathers are supposed to produce colours by surface structures modulating the light (in addition to the usual absorption/reflection mechanism)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Are mutations accumulating far faster than selected out?
I just want to see the mutation accumulation rate in human populations. Versus the rate at which mutations are selected out. Just wanted to check if the genome is deteriorating
