Synonyms
Definition
Mutation is defined as a permanent change occurring in the DNA, i.e., nucleotide sequence of a gene or chromosome.
Introduction
Gene is the functional unit of DNA. The characteristic of an individual is determined by its genetic pool. The genes are transferred to the organism from the parental genetic pool through complex process of reproduction. Mutation is a process of alteration of nucleotide sequence within a gene. Altered gene sequence in DNA ultimately leads to alteration in all copies of proteins encoded by that DNA. The alterations in proteins can lead to change in development and functioning of an organism (Lodish et al. 2000).
The genetic configurations keep on changing due to mutational process (Moorjani et al. 2016). The gene-environmental interaction is involved to a larger extent in this complex process. By this evolutionary process, the organism attempts to meet the needs for survival, i.e., mutation keeps an organism evolving....
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Fleischmann, W. R. (1996). Viral genetics. In S. Baron (Ed.), Medical microbiology (4th ed.). Galveston: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8439/.
Gao, L.-P., Shi, Q., Xiao, K., Wang, J., Zhou, W., Chen, C., & Dong, X.-P. (2019). The genetic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with E200K mutation: Analysis of clinical, genetic and laboratory features of 30 Chinese patients. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1836. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38520-y.
García, J., & Traulsen, A. (2012). The structure of mutations and the evolution of cooperation. PLoS One, 7(4), e35287.
Gorlov, I. P., Pikielny, C. W., Frost, H. R., Her, S. C., Cole, M. D., Strohbehn, S. D., … Amos, C. I. (2018). Gene characteristics predicting missense, nonsense and frameshift mutations in tumor samples. BMC Bioinformatics, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12859-018-2455-0
Harris, K., & Pritchard, J. K. (2017). Rapid evolution of the human mutation spectrum. eLife, 6, e24284.
Hershberg, R. (2015). Mutation – The engine of evolution: Studying mutation and its role in the evolution of bacteria. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 7(9), a018077.
Kronholm, I., & Collins, S. (2016). Epigenetic mutations can both help and hinder adaptive evolution. Molecular Ecology, 25(8), 1856–1868.
Kumar, V., Abbas, A. K., & Aster, J. C. (2017). Robbins basic pathology e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences. Philadelphia, PA.
Lodish, H., Berk, A., Zipursky, S. L., Matsudaira, P., Baltimore, D., Darnell, J. (2000). Mutations: Types and causes. Molecular Cell Biology. 4th Edition. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21578/
Loewe, L. (2008). Genetic mutation. Nature Education, 1(1), 113.
Lynch, M., Ackerman, M. S., Gout, J.-F., Long, H., Sung, W., Thomas, W. K., & Foster, P. L. (2016). Genetic drift, selection and the evolution of the mutation rate. Nature Reviews Genetics, 17(11), 704.
Moorjani, P., Gao, Z., & Przeworski, M. (2016). Human germline mutation and the erratic evolutionary clock. PLoS Biology, 14(10), e2000744. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2000744.
Ortmann, C. A., Kent, D. G., Nangalia, J., Silber, Y., Wedge, D. C., Grinfeld, J., … Green, A. R. (2015). Effect of mutation order on myeloproliferative neoplasms. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(7), 601–612. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1412098
Park, C., Qian, W., & Zhang, J. (2012). Genomic evidence for elevated mutation rates in highly expressed genes. EMBO Reports, 13(12), 1123–1129. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2012.165.
Pearson, C. E., Nichol Edamura, K., & Cleary, J. D. (2005). Repeat instability: Mechanisms of dynamic mutations. Nature Reviews. Genetics, 6(10), 729–742. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1689.
Peck, K. M., & Lauring, A. S. (2018). Complexities of viral mutation rates. Journal of Virology, 92(14). https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01031-17.
Sailer, Z. R., & Harms, M. J. (2017). Molecular ensembles make evolution unpredictable. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(45), 11938–11943.
Sanjuán, R., & Domingo-Calap, P. (2016). Mechanisms of viral mutation. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences : CMLS, 73(23), 4433–4448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-016-2299-6.
Scally, A. (2016). Mutation rates and the evolution of germline structure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 371(1699), 20150137. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0137.
Svensson, E. I., & Berger, D. (2019). The role of mutation Bias in adaptive evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 34(5), 422–434.
Uller, T., Moczek, A. P., Watson, R. A., Brakefield, P. M., & Laland, K. N. (2018). Developmental bias and evolution: A regulatory network perspective. Genetics, 209(4), 949–966.
Watford, S., & Warrington, S. J. (2019). Bacterial DNA Mutations. In StatPearls. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459274/
Woodford, N., & Ellington, M. J. (2007). The emergence of antibiotic resistance by mutation. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 13(1), 5–18.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kar, S.K., Tripathy, S. (2019). Mutation. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1319-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1319-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences