Verified Answer :

The term that you are looking for is a mutation a change in the base code of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

A change in the natural sequence of bases in DNA structure is called a mutation.

  • The mutations are responsible for altering the nucleotide sequence of the DNA and can be caused due to several reasons which can be physical, chemical or intrinsic factors.
  • The effect of these mutations on the organisms can be positive (beneficial), negative (harmful) or neutral (no effect).
  • The mutations can be broadly classified into 2 categories based on the change produced in the nucleotide sequence :

1. Point mutation - This mutation result in the change of single nucleotide in the given DNA sequence. For e.g in a sequence AGGAATC if G changes to C the new sequence would be ACGAATC and this is called a point mutation.

2. Frameshift mutation-This mutation refers to the alteration of the open reading frame of a sequence due to insertion or deletion of several nucleotides in a sequence for e.g if you have a sequence AAATTGG and there is a deletion of AATT  you get AGG. This is an example of a frameshift mutation.

Related Questions