BIOL 101 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Germline Mutation, Pyrimidine Dimer, Mutation
Document Summary
All new genetic diversity arises by mutation. Most advances in bio in the last 30 years have come from using mutations to study the functions of genes. Also the cause of many human diseases and disorders. But mutations that affect genes do happen all the time. Animals - only mutations in sex cells affect offspring (germline?) Plants - mutations in any cells affect offspring. The typical genome differs from the reference human genome at 4. 1 million to 5. 0 million sites. A typical genome contains an estimated 2100 to 2500 structural varients. In total, about 20 million bases of sequence affected. Most frequent in rna viruses and retroviruses. Smaller the genome size, the more frequent the mutations. 5 x 10^-9 per bp, per year (bp = base pairs) The human genome is 3 x 10^9 bp (haploid). The vast majority of these do not affect genes. Mismatch mutations are caused by an error in replication.
