A mistake by cellular machinery, or damage from an environmental agent such as radiation may produce a mutated gene which is a permanently altered segment of dna.
A gene mutation is a perpetual change in the DNA sequence that forms a gene which makes the sequence different from what is present in most people. Gene mutations can be classified into; hereditary mutation (changes inherited from parents) and somatic mutation (changes caused by environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation from the sun).
Based on the information provided within the question it can be said that the statement that would best indicate that the nurse understands the condition would be "Alveolar dead space". This is because, this is the name of the condition being described by the pulmonologist. It is the sum of the volumes of the alveoli that are ventilated but not perfused due to almost no blood flowing through their pulmonary capillaries.
