AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A silent mutation is a type of substitution, or point, mutation, wherein the change in the DNA sequence of the gene has no effect on the amino acid sequence. For example, AAA (codes for the amino acid lysine, Lys) being mutated to AAG (which also codes for Lys).

Detailed explanation-2: -Silent mutations code for the same amino acid (a “synonymous substitution"). A silent mutation does not affect the functioning of the protein. A single nucleotide can change, but the new codon specifies the same amino acid, resulting in an unmutated protein.

Detailed explanation-3: -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-4: -Silent mutations create problems with exonic splicing enhancers (ESEs), resulting in changes in mRNA processing of the genetic information. ESE motifs are sequences between three and eight nucleotides long and are found near the end of exons within what will be the coding sequence of the final mRNA.

Detailed explanation-5: -Silent mutations do not affect the sequence of amino acids during translation. Nonsense mutations result in a stop codon where an amino acid should be, causing translation to stop prematurely. Missense mutations change the amino acid specified by a codon.