1. Gene Mutations

2. What is a mutation?
Mutations are changes made to an organism’s genetic material.
These changes may be due to errors in replication, errors during transcription , radiation, viruses and many other things.
Mutations can occur within a specific gene (small scale), as well as to the chromosome as a whole (large scale).
Silent mutations are changes that do not result in a change to the organism

3. Are mutations always bad?
Favorable mutations present organisms with an advantage over others and ensure their survival. These mutations will accumulate in a population.
Less favorable mutations are removed from the gene pool through natural selection.
Organisms with these mutations will not survive.

4. Small Scale Mutations: Gene Mutations
There are three main types of small scale gene mutations. These all affect one nucleotide in a DNA triplet. (Point Mutations)
Reversal/ Substitution (Lucky or unlucky)
Insertions (Frame shift mutations)
Deletions (Frame shift mutations)

5. Small Scale
Point mutations occur when a single nucleotide in a gene is exchanged for another nucleotide.
For example, an A could be exchanged for a T or a C could be exchanged for a G.
These mutations have an effect on protein synthesis. One DNA triplet is altered, which can affect one or more codons and therefore one or more amino acids.

6. A Point Mutation Resulting in Nonsense

7. A Point Mutation: An Analogy
t h e r e d d o g b i t t h e t a n c a t
t h e r e d m o g b i t t h e t a n c a t
This point mutation changes the meaning,
resulting in nonsense

8. A Point Mutation Resulting in Missense

9. A Point Mutation: An Analogy
t h e r e d d o g b i t t h e t a n c a t
t h e r e d h o g b i t t h e t a n c a t
This point mutation changes the meaning,
resulting in missense

10. An Insertion Mutation in a Gene

11. An Insertion Mutation: An Analogy
t h e r e d d o g b i t t h e t a n c a t
t h e r e d r d o g b i t t h e t a n c a
This insertion mutation changes the reading
frame

12. A Deletion Mutation in a Gene

13. An Deletion Mutation: An Analogy
t h e r e d d o g b i t t h e t a n c a t
t h e r e d o g b i t t h e t a n c a t _
This deletion mutation changes the reading
frame

14. A Frameshift Mutation

15. Video Animation