Mutation may be defined as the sudden, heritable change in the nucleotide sequence of the organism. Mutation may occur due to the errors in DNA replication or may occurs due to the mutagens.
Joshua and Lederberg experiment explains that mutation is the non adaptive and random process that occur in the organism. He used the replica plating of E.coli and grows them on streptomycin drug. The bacteria was grown on the the primary plate and they are transferred to the secondary plate with streptomycin drug in the growth environment. The resistant strain of bacteria grows in the streptomycin environment.The pattern of bacteria growth on the plate explained that mutation occurs randomly and it is a non adaptive process.
The only independent variable in this experiment is the amount of nitrogen Sarah uses. All of the other variables are dependent on other factor and processes, but Sarah controls the amount of nitrogen that she uses for each plant.
