Chapter 7: Molecular Genetics: From Gene to Protein Beta
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SBI4U Biology · 7.5
Mutations: harmful, neutral or beneficial
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Mutations: harmful, neutral or beneficial
- Whether a mutation helps or harms depends on its effect on the individual in a given time and place.
- Most mutations are neutral; silent changes and the large non-coding share of human DNA make that likely, especially in eukaryotes.
- A harmful mutation lowers an individual’s fitness and is selected against; a beneficial one raises survival and reproduction and is passed on.
- Lactose tolerance was useful only after people began drinking milk; the mutation that causes sickle-cell anemia also gives resistance to malaria.
- Prokaryotic DNA is mostly coding, so a mutation there is more likely to be harmful.