What are the effects of mutations on protien synthesis, phenotypes, and heredity?
mutations represent changes in an organism’s DNA sequence caused by viruses, radiation, transposons, mutagenic chemicals, and DNA transcription errors (during mitosis). As such many mutations cause an alteration in the translated protein product for a given gene due to the change in the underlying genetic code. This alteration in protein sequence will often (but not always) cause a change in the expressed phenotype of an organism. If the mutation occurs in a germline cell (sperm cell or egg) which gives rise to another organism (through sexual reproduction), this alteration in genetic code (and possibly protein synthesis and phenotype) will be present systemically, however if a mutation occurs in a somatic cell (any cell of the body) often little phenotypic change will occur (however sometimes such mutation can give rise to cancer if it alters the function of specific regulatory or proliferative pathways). This highlights the important distinction between somatic and germline mutations
