Developmental Biology: Point Mutations

• Developmental Biology studies how organisms change in space and time, and how cells with different functions are produced.
• Developmental biology study relies on observation and perturbations (physical or genetic).
• Genetics studies genes and hereditary processes.
• Genome is the total DNA in a cell; DNA is a double-stranded molecule of nucleotides (bases).
• Genes are segments of DNA that contain information for coding a protein.
• Mutations alter the nucleotide sequence.
• Point mutations (single nucleotide changes) affect the protein(s) encoded by a gene.
• Point mutations are categorized as different molecular classes of mutations.
• Missense mutation changes the codon so the wrong amino acid is translated.
• Nonsense mutation changes the codon to a stop codon.
• Silent mutation does not disrupt the coding capacity of the gene.
• Frameshift mutations shift the reading frame, so RNA encodes different amino acids.
• Frameshift mutations can result from single or multiple nucleotide insertions or deletions.
• Multicellular organisms consist of differentiated cells that perform specialized functions.
• Tissues are groups of similar cells that work together to perform a specific function.
• Organs are structural units made of different tissues to carry out a function.
• Genes control development; gene changes can lead to the evolution of new traits or forms.
• Model systems are species suited to laboratory study due to their small size, ease of manipulation, short life cycle, etc.
• Model systems allow extrapolation to other systems not as easy to handle, possible due to the fact that all living things are related and use similar processes for growth and development
• Evolutionary conservation of genes and processes exists.
• Phylogenetic trees depict the relationship of organisms.
• Phylogenetic trees are built on different kinds of data; the most common is gene sequences.
• The scientific method relies on observation, developing a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and revising or developing new hypotheses based on new information.

Explore point mutations in developmental biology. Learn about missense, nonsense, silent, and frameshift mutations and their impacts on protein encoding. Understand how these mutations alter nucleotide sequences and affect gene coding.