What are Mutations, How do they work?

Mutation - a change in a gene or chromosome. It is a rare, random change in the genetic material and it can be inherited. It's continuous and can be spontaneous, also happens due to: - ionising radiation - chemical mutagens - such as tar from cigarette smoke 1) Ionising radiation includes gamma rays, X-rays and ultraviolet rays. The greater the dose of radiation a cell gets, the greater the chance of a mutation 2) Mutations could cause different genes to be switched on or off, and this could create a different or faulty protein to be synthesised. For example, if the protein is an important enzyme, the specific substrate might not fit into the substrate binding site. If it is a structural protein such as collagen, it might lose its strength 3) However, most DNA mutations do not alter a protein, they only alter it slightly so its appearance or function is not changed 4) These mutations may change the activity of a protein, in a coding part of the DNA, or it might change how the genes are expressed if the change is in a non-coding section of DNA/. May result in a serious consequence, such as genetic disease such as cystic fibrosis 5) Different types of gene mutation(self-explanatory): Substitution, insertion, deletion, inversion