How do mutations affect DNA?

For a summary of what DNA does in our bodies, visit 'What is DNA' first.

Briefly, the DNA in our cells is translated by cell machinery to make proteins. The sequence of amino acids in a protein determines its function. The DNA sequence of a gene determines the amino acid sequence of the resulting protein. Thus, any changes in DNA sequence can result in changes in protein function. This is called a mutation. Mutations can be good, bad or neutral depending upon whether the effect of the mutation is positive, negative, or unnoticed.

Because the DNA sequence is read three "bases" at a time, the insertion or deletion of one or two bases can throw off the "reading frame" and garble the any message downstream of the mutation.

ATA GGT ACC TCT GGG TAG AGC GTC GAT = dna2z.com ATA GGT ACa CTC TGG GTA GAG CGT CGA T = dne^?sy%=|

Addition or deletion of three bases will result in a smaller change which may go unnoticed.

ATA GGT ACC TCT GGG TAG AGC GTC GAT = dna2z.com ATA GGT ACC TCT GGG AGC GTC GAT = dna2zcom

Fortunately, our bodies have rather sophisticated error correction mechanisms that can detect and correct or compensate for many mutations. Try "mutating" a DNA-o-gram to see for yourself.

The DNA-o-gram generator uses the genetic code to specify letters of the alphabet instead of coding for proteins.

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The DNA-o-gram Generator is a product of thinkBiotech