Mutations

• the base sequence of a gene determines the amino acid sequence of a protein
• what happens all the time?

  mutations
• what is mutation?


  A change in the DNA sequence.
• what is a variation?

  the differences that exist between individuals of a species
• how to know when mutation occured?

  a single base will change
• why changing a single base doesn't change the whole AMAC sequence?

  different base triplets can sometimes encode for the same amino acid
• mutations mostly have no effect on the function of the protein
• what happens when a mutation changes the shape of protein?

  enzyme may no longer fit the substrate binding site or a structural protein may lose its strength.
• what is the role for non-coding parts of DNA?

  can switch genes on and off so variations in these areas of DNA may affect how genes are expressed