Mutagenic agents

• Mutagen - A chemical or physical agent that has the ability to change our genetic code in a harmful way
• Mutagenic agents can increase the rate of gene mutation
• Mutagenic agents:

  Mutations happen randomly, but the rate of mutation can be increased by physical or chemical factors (eg exposure to ionising radiation or carcinogenic chemicals)
• Occasionally if a series of survivable mutations occur in the same cell in certain genes called 'oncogenes', this can result in cells that are able to divide without control and evade the immune system

  • This can result in cancer
• Non-disjunction at meiosis can result in whole chromosomes being missing or an extra copy of the chromosome being present