Library · Genetics
Genetic mutation
Make it clearer
DNA is the text where the instructions for how a cell works are written, and a genetic mutation is a permanent change in that text, in the order of its letters. It isn't a smudge that gets cleaned up later: the cell goes right on reading the changed version. Picture an instruction manual copied out by hand over and over, and one word ends up written differently from then on.
Some of those mutations come from a person's parents and were there from the very start. Others appear during a lifetime inside a single cell, and then only the cells born from that one carry them, not the rest of the body. And it's worth saying plainly: most mutations, on their own, don't cause any disease.
In brief
A genetic mutation is a permanent change in the DNA sequence.
Some mutations are inherited from a parent; others arise in a cell during a person's lifetime and are passed only to the cells that descend from it.
An inherited mutation can be present from the first cell of the body; one that arises during life begins in a single cell and remains in its lineage.
Most mutations do not cause disease on their own.
Sources (1)
- MedlinePlus GeneticsWhat is a gene variant and how do variants occur?
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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