AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Silent mutations occur when the change of a single DNA nucleotide within a protein-coding portion of a gene does not affect the sequence of amino acids that make up the gene’s protein.

Detailed explanation-2: -Silent mutations are mutations, or changes, to a gene’s DNA sequence that have no effect on the amino acid sequence coded for by that gene; they are called silent because their effect cannot be heard.

Detailed explanation-3: -A silent mutation (quiet mutation) is a form of mutation that does not cause a major change in the amino acid. As a result, the protein remains active and functional. Because of this, the changes are viewed as though they are neutral in terms of evolution.

Detailed explanation-4: -Non-silent mutations include missense mutations which change an amino acid to another amino acid, nonsense mutations which change an amino acid to a stop codon, mutations in splice sites and insertions or deletions (indels).

Detailed explanation-5: -If a mutation does not alter the amino acid sequence of a protein, it is considered a silent mutation. A neutral mutation changes the amino acid, but not the function of the protein. Both frameshift and nonsense mutations can severely affect the function and structure of a protein.