Any change in the genetic code in the DNA or in the mRNA would cause a(n)

DNA and RNA are types of nucleic acids. DNA is a molecule that carries genetic information for living organisms.
The genetic information carried by the DNA is used to make proteins that carry out various functions in living things.
Information in the DNA is transferred to the messenger RNA through the process of transcription.
During the process of replication the genetic code carried by DNA may be wrongly copied. Consequently, this results to changes called mutation.

Mutation are sudden spontaneous changes that occur randomly in the genetic makeup of an organism.
Mutations occurs during replication process or recombination during meiosis.

Substitutions are types of mutations that exchanges bases for another.
When substitution mutations occur in sequences of DNA that encodes for proteins they may be either missense, silent or nonsense mutations.

Deletions occurs when one or more bases are lost from the DNA sequence.
Deletions result in the formation of a nonfunctional gene product.
When three bases are lost then the protein formed will lack an amino acid in its sequence.

Insertions occurs when a base is added to the DNA sequence and depending on the number of bases inserted it may lead to a frame-shift mutation.

Keywords: Mutations, DNA, RNA

Level: High school

Subject: Biology

Topic: Mutations