Question

Variations caused by sudden genetic changes are called __________. Fill in the blank.

Answer 1

Variations caused by sudden genetic changes are called ___mutation_______.

Answer 2

Mutation.

A mutation is a permanent change of the nucleotide makeup within the genome of an organism.

It can also happen in an extrachromosomal DNA, virus, or any different form of genetic entity.

Mutations occur due to sudden errors during the DNA replication process or some other damage that may occur to the DNA like carcinogens, radiation exposure, etc.

Then, these can go through an error-prone repair like microhomology-mediated end joining or it may also result in an error at the time of a repair.

At the time of replication also there can be an error which is known as translesion synthesis.

A mutations may also happen due to DNA segments not being there, or from mobile elements or deletion of segments, etc.