Mutations

(a) Mutations are random changes in the genome that can result in no protein or an altered protein being expressed.
(b) Single gene mutations involve the alteration of a DNA nucleotide sequence as a result of the substitution, insertion or deletion of nucleotides. Single-nucleotide substitutions include: missense, nonsense and splice-site mutations. Nucleotide insertions or deletions result in frame-shift mutations or an expansion of a nucleotide sequence repeat.
(c) Chromosome structure mutations — duplication, deletion, inversion and translocation.
(d) The importance of mutations and gene duplication in evolution
(e) Polyploidy – errors during the separation of chromosomes during cell division can result in cells with whole genome duplications. Importance of polyploidy in evolution and human food crops.