Why are insertion and deletion mutations so harmful?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking for an explanation of why insertion and deletion mutations can have detrimental effects on an organism. These types of mutations can lead to frameshift changes in the DNA sequence, which may result in incorrect protein synthesis and disrupt normal cellular function.
Answer
Insertion and deletion mutations cause a frame-shift effect that alters the entire amino acid sequence.
The final answer is that insertion and deletion mutations are harmful because they cause a frame-shift effect which changes the reading of subsequent codons and alters the entire amino acid sequence that follows the mutation
Answer for screen readers
The final answer is that insertion and deletion mutations are harmful because they cause a frame-shift effect which changes the reading of subsequent codons and alters the entire amino acid sequence that follows the mutation
More Information
Insertion and deletion mutations usually result in the most harmful effects because they disrupt the entire downstream amino acid sequence of the protein, leading to significant functional changes or completely inactive proteins.
Tips
Common mistakes include confusing frameshift mutations (which affect all downstream codons) with point mutations (which affect only a single codon).
Sources
- Mutations and Genetic Diseases - LibreTexts - chem.libretexts.org
- Why are insertion and deletion mutations so harmful? - ResearchGate - researchgate.net
- What is a frameshift mutation and why are they so damaging? - Quora - quora.com
