Mutation
change of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Mutations result from errors during replication, mitosis, meiosis, or damage to DNA, which then may trigger error-prone repair or cause an error during replication (translesion synthesis). Mutations may also result from substitution, insertion or deletion of segments of DNA due to mobile genetic elements.
Mutations may or may not produce detectable changes in the observable characteristics (phenotype) of an organism. Mutations play a part in both normal and abnormal biological processes including: evolution, cancer, and the development of the immune system, including junctional diversity. Mutation is the ultimate source of all genetic variation, providing the raw material on which evolutionary forces such as natural selection can act.
Mutation can result in many different types of change in sequences. Mutations in genes can have no effect, alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning properly or completely. Mutations can also occur in non-genic regions. A 2007 study on genetic variations between different species of Drosophila suggested that, if a mutation changes a protein produced by a gene, the result is likely to be harmful, with an estimated 70% of amino acid polymorphisms having damaging effects, and the remainder being either neutral or marginally beneficial.
Mutation and DNA damage are the two major types of errors that occur in DNA, but they are fundamentally different.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mutation” as change of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as change of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q42918. The Library of Congress control number is sh85089128. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mutation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.