A mutation that involves one or a few nucleotides is called
a) mutagen
b) inversion
c) point mutation
d) translocation
Answer:
c) point mutation
Explanation:
When only one or a few nucleotides of a gene are changed by mutation, this is called a point mutation. A point mutation can add one additional nucleotide to the wild type gene or may delete or substitute a nucleotide from it. For example, if a wild type gene sequence is "ATATATATA", then the addition of "C" at the position 4 will change it into "ATACTATATA". This addition of new nucleotide is called point mutation since only one nucleotide is added to the gene. Point mutations can cause serious genetic disorders such as sickle cell anemia.
