After many years of normal function, a cell begins producing different proteins than it produced before. Propose two different explanations for this change.

In order to produce different proteins, mutations must occur in the genetic material of the cell. We distinguish gene and chromosome mutations. Mutations in the level of genes are called point mutations because only one to several nucleotides are changed. These processes are known as deletion, insertion, and substitution. Mutations can also appear in chromosomes altering their number and structure. There are four types of mutations: deletion, duplication, inversion, and translocation.

aliasger2709 aliasger2709 · Answer 2 · 2022-03-10T14:09:56+01:00

Cells are the functional unit that has a specific activity to perform. The alteration of the cell function can be due to gene or chromosomal mutations.

What are gene and chromosomal mutations?

A change in the sequence of the DNA of the gene causes gene mutation and affects the gene or the part of the DNA of the chromosome. They occur in a single place and are called point mutations.

The point mutation is the alteration, addition, deletion or inversion of the single nucleotide base pair of the gene.

The chromosomal mutation affects the whole chromosome and alters the shape and size of the chromosomes. It leads to the increase or the decrease of the ploidy and structural shape.

Chromosomal mutation can be due to translocation, deletion, inversion and duplication of the chromosomes. Their increase or decrease affects the genome as a whole.

Therefore, alteration of the cell can be due to chromosomal or gene mutation.

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