mutations are mistakes that cells make when copying their own DNA.

a mutation is a change in genetic material.

In some cases, mutations have a neutral or harmless effect to living beings. They can even give beneficial or useful effects when it comes to plant and animal breeding. However, there are also harmful effects that usually disrupt the normal gene function in living organisms which may result to genetic disorders. Overall, the effects of mutation to living things often lead to genetic variation and evolution.

A cell “reads” the genetic information encoded by DNA or RNA in terms of three-letter sequences known as *codons*. A sequence of codons is also known as the “reading frame”.

A *frameshift mutation* is a type of mutation that causes a “shift” in the reading frame. Two kinds of frameshift mutations are the **insertion** and **deletion** of a nucleotide in a sequence.

An insertion mutation occurs when a nucleotide is inserted into the sequence of DNA. On the other hand, a deletion mutation occurs when a nucleotide is removed from a sequence.

Insertion and deletion

The four types of chromosomal mutations are deletion, duplication, inversion, and translocation.

In deletion, one part or the whole chromosome is lost during DNA replication. Examples of disorder due to deletion includes Cri du chat syndrome and DiGeorge Syndrome (DGS).

In duplication, an extra copy of the chromosome is produced. Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is the most common disorder due to duplication mutation.

Inversion reverses the way the chromosomes go and gets inserted back to its previous spot. This mutation caused a disease called hemophilia A.

Translocation occurs when a segment detaches from the chromosome and tends to get attached to another chromosome. Examples of disorder due to translocation are down syndrome and some types of cancer.

The four types of chromosomal mutations are deletion, duplication, inversion, and translocation.

There are some mutations which do not affect the phenotype of an organism. This kind of mutation occurs in a segment of DNA that has no specific function and it is likely a neutral mutation. A neutral mutation usually has a little or no effect to the living organism. It is neither beneficial nor harmful to an organism’s fitness or its ability to survive life and reproduce offspring. For scientists to detect this kind of mutation, they can trace the genetic history of the organism and apply molecular techniques and tools for genetic diagnosis in order to check whether there are changes or not in the genetic material of the organism.