Question

Suppose a person has a mutation in their DNA, and the first triplet for the gene coding for insulin is CCC (instead of CCA). Determine what amino acid the new DNA triplet codes for. Will this person be diabetic?

Answer 1

The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the body, processing, integrating, and coordinating the information it receives from the sense organs, and making decisions as to the instructions sent to the rest of the body. The brain is contained in, and protected by, the skull bones of the head. The cerebrum is the largest part of the human brain. It is divided into two cerebral hemispheres. The cerebral cortex is an outer layer of grey matter, covering the core of white matter. The cortex is split into the neocortex and the much smaller allocortex. The neocortex is made up of six neuronal layers, while the allocortex has three or four. Each hemisphere is conventionally divided into four lobes – the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. The frontal lobe is associated with executive functions including self-control, planning, reasoning, and abstract thought, while the occipital lobe is dedicated to vision. Within each lobe, cortical areas are associated with specific functions, such as the sensory, motor and association regions. Although the left and right hemispheres are broadly similar in shape and function, some functions are associated with one side, such as language in the left and visual-spatial ability in the right. The hemispheres are connected by commissural nerve tracts, the largest being the corpus callosum.

Human brain

Answer 2

Answer: The new triplet CCC will code for proline that was also coded by the old triplet code CCA ( that was present before mutation).

The given mutation is a silent mutation as the change in the nucleotide sequence did not affect the amino acid ( since new codon also codes for proline). Due to this, it will result in normal insulin production.

Therefore, the person will not be diabetic as normal insulin will be produced in the body.