mutation

American  

[myoo-tey-shuhn] / myuˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

1. Biology.

   1. Also called break.  a sudden departure from the parent type in one or more heritable characteristics, caused by a change in a gene or a chromosome.

   2. Also called sport.  an individual, species, or the like, resulting from such a departure.

2. the act or process of changing.

3. a change or alteration, as in form or nature.

4. Phonetics. umlaut.

5. Linguistics. (in Celtic languages) syntactically determined morphophonemic phenomena that affect initial sounds of words.

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mutation British  

/ mjuːˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of mutating; change; alteration

2. a change or alteration

3. a change in the chromosomes or genes of a cell. When this change occurs in the gametes the structure and development of the resultant offspring may be affected See also inversion

4. another word for mutant

5. a physical characteristic of an individual resulting from this type of chromosomal change

6. phonetics

   1. (in Germanic languages) another name for umlaut

   2. (in Celtic languages) a phonetic change in certain initial consonants caused by a preceding word

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mutation Scientific  

/ myo̅o̅-tā′shən /

1. A change in the structure of the genes or chromosomes of an organism. Mutations occurring in the reproductive cells, such as an egg or sperm, can be passed from one generation to the next. Most mutations occur in junk DNA and have no discernible effects on the survivability of an organism. Of the remaining mutations, the majority have harmful effects, while a minority can increase an organism's ability to survive. A mutation that benefits a species may evolve by means of natural selection into a trait shared by some or all members of the species.

2. See Note at sickle cell anemia

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Other Word Forms

• mutational
  adjective
• mutationally
  adverb
• nonmutational
  adjective
• nonmutationally
  adverb
• unmutational
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of mutation

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English mutacio(u)n, from Latin mūtātion- (stem of mūtātiō ) “a changing”; see mutate, -ion

Explanation

A mutation is a genetic change that causes new and different characteristics, like the mutation on the dog's DNA that makes its tail shorter than its ancestors' tails. Mutation comes from the Latin word mutationem meaning "a changing." You might recognize this root in related words like mutate, mutable, and mutant. We often think of mutations as changes in an animal's genetic structure, but there are other kinds of mutations. For example, if an architect designs an award-winning building, her later designs that are similar might be called mutations of that one.

Example Sentences

Tested on sets from the Human Gene Mutation Database and ClinVar, LoGoFunc demonstrated high accuracy in predicting gain-of-function, loss-of-function, and neutral variants, according to the investigators.

From Science Daily • Dec. 14, 2023

Maybe Mutation 1 makes the virus more fit; maybe Mutation 2 makes it more fit.

From Scientific American • Jun. 28, 2022

Mutation produces variety and deviation; selection kills off the least functional mutations.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 5, 2018

Mutation and gene shuffling during sexual reproduction produce the heritable variation on which natural selection works.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2018

This gives a severe shock to the "Mutation theory," for the other actually wild species with which de Vries experimented showed no "mutations" but yielded only negative results.

From Evolution in Modern Thought by Weismann, August

Related Words

• alteration
• anomaly
• variation