• @The_v
    link
    195 days ago

    The author was confused and that was written poorly. It is a mutation. A mutation is any change to the DNA sequence. Specifically it’s called a point mutation deletion. A point mutation is a small mutation of one nucleotide.

    The recipe for proteins on DNA is stored as a 3 nucleotide code. 3 nucleotides represent 1 amino acid (A protein is a chain of amino acids). A small deletion (1 or 2 nucleotidds) in the active coding sequence messes up the entire sequence.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_and_RNA_codon_tables

    • Shawdow194
      link
      fedilink
      15 days ago

      Yes! By defintion mutation is a change in DNA, but most people consider it more of a modification rather than the occasional just missing bit.

      We usually refer to missing DNAs as cancers since damaged and missing genetic data are the leading cause of unregulated cell division

      • @The_v
        link
        45 days ago

        Not quite, cancers are caused by any mutation that causes the regulatory proteins to stop being produced. Frameshift mutations are the most common cause. This are often caused by additions or deletions. However other mutations can deactivate the gene like a substitutionin the binding site for mRNA transcription.

        Mutations, like deletions can occur all across the genome. Since we have large amounts of non-coding DNA, these mutations usually have no effect.