Silent mutation due to wobble results in no amino acid change.

Silent mutation due to wobble results in no amino acid change.

• A. Silent mutation
• B. Missense mutation
• C. Nonsense mutation
• D. Frameshift mutation

Answer: (A)

Genetic code redundancy means multiple codons can specify the same amino acid, and the wobble position (the third base of a codon) often tolerates changes without changing which amino acid is coded. If a mutation occurs at this wobble position but the codon still encodes the same amino acid, the resulting protein sequence remains unchanged—this is a silent (synonymous) mutation. The other mutation types would alter the protein: a change that alters the codon to a different amino acid is a missense mutation; one that creates a stop codon is a nonsense mutation; and insertions or deletions that shift the reading frame cause a frameshift mutation.

Genetic code redundancy means multiple codons can specify the same amino acid, and the wobble position (the third base of a codon) often tolerates changes without changing which amino acid is coded. If a mutation occurs at this wobble position but the codon still encodes the same amino acid, the resulting protein sequence remains unchanged—this is a silent (synonymous) mutation. The other mutation types would alter the protein: a change that alters the codon to a different amino acid is a missense mutation; one that creates a stop codon is a nonsense mutation; and insertions or deletions that shift the reading frame cause a frameshift mutation.