mutation

1. © Department for Education, the Government of South Australia, Learning at home, 2022
Year 10
Lesson 2 – mutations and types of mutations
Science

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Learning intention
To understand the different types of mutations.

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You will need
• A pen and a piece of paper or a laptop to record your answers.
• You may need the internet to search for answers.

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Key terms
Mutations – a change in the genetic code.
Nucleus – the central part of the cell; think of this as the ‘brain’ of the
cell, it controls the cell.
Organisms – a form of life, such as plants, animals and fungi.
Chromosome – is an organised piece of DNA.

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Questions
• Why is a nucleus important for almost every cell?
• How do organisms grow, repair and reproduce?

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Answers
• Why is a nucleus important for almost every cell?
o The nucleus contains the cell’s chromosomes which encode genetic material.
o Responsible for all cell functions and activities.
• How do organisms grow, repair and reproduce?
o Cell division.

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Mutations task
Sometimes when cells divide, as the cell copies itself, the DNA can sometimes make
mistakes. These are known as mutations.
• Whisper the following sentence to someone then ask them to write it down:
o ‘Rabbits rumble, giants grumble, dogs bark in the dark, and wolves woo in the blue.’
• Ask that person to repeat it to another person and get them to write it down.
• Would the message stay the same?
• Would the meaning change?

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Types of mutations
There are many types of mutations. In this lesson the focus is on point
mutations.
There are 3 types of point mutations:
• base substitution
• base insertion
• base deletion.

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Let's use an example
THE RED CAT ATE THE RAT

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Base substitution example
If there was a point mutation, the sentence would change to:
THE REF CAT ATE THE RAT
Source: DNA mutation, https://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-types-of-mutation-
are-there [CC BY 4.0] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Base insertion example
If an insertion were to mutate the sentence 'THE RED CAT ATE THE RAT',
then it might read:
THE CRE DCA TAT ETH ERA T

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Base deletion example
A deletion would do something similar to the sentence:
THE EDC ATA TET HER AT

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Codons
THE RED CAT ATE THE RAT
Codon
In its simplest form, a codon is code for a message.
A point mutation can cause a change to the message in different ways.

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Activity
Create your own example to show the 3 types of mutations:
• substitution
• insertion
• base.

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Mutations – positive or negative
Key ideas
Positive:
• Diversity
Negative:
• Disease like cancer
Important note:
Mutations are not always a bad thing. There are positives and negatives to mutations.

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Summary
• When cells divide, the DNA can sometimes make mistakes and it can
change the genetic code.
• Mutations can occur in many ways (substitution, insertion,
deletion).
• Mutations can be positive and negative.

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Challenge
In our example, we used random letters to show how codons are made
up of 3 letters.
DNA is made up of 4 bases, which are represented by 4 letters.
What are they?

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