What is ment by genetic mutation?

Answer 1

A mutation is any change to a strand of DNA which is passed on to an organism's offspring.

DNA mutations are caused usually by chemical interactions or radiation (natural and manmade), and most are harmless.

The only ones which cause serious defects (that I know of) are changes to sperm or egg cells, stem cells (which might ultimately be responsible for the DNA and development of an entire region of your anatomy) and changes which cause cancer.

If a fetus or embryo is exposed to intense radiation, they will be at high-risk for harmful genetic mutations because their body is still developing, whereas an adult will be relatively immune since most of the time if a strand of DNA in a cell is damaged the cell just dies and is replaced.

Answer 2

Genetic mutation is when the base pairs of DNA are changed. There are three basic types of mutation; deletion, addition, and substitution. Deletion is when a base pair is removed from the strand of DNA. Addition is when an extra base pair is added to the strand of DNA. And substitution is when a base pair is traded out with a different base pair.

Answer 3

Mutation is generally accepted by the scientific community as the mechanism upon which natural selection acts, providing the advantageous new traits that survive and multiply in offspring or disadvantageous traits that die out with weaker organisms.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_mutation

Answer 4

A gene mutation is a permanent change in the DNA sequence, that makes up a gene. Mutations range in size, from a single DNA building block (DNA base), to a large segment of a chromosome.

Answer 5

go on dictionary.com and find out