AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Do Parents Pass Gene Mutations to Children? If a parent carries a gene mutation in their egg or sperm, it can pass to their child. These hereditary (or inherited) mutations are in almost every cell of the person’s body throughout their life.

Detailed explanation-2: -In humans, somatic cells are diploid, meaning they contain two sets of chromosomes, one inherited from each parent. DNA mutations in somatic cells can affect an individual, but they cannot be passed on to their offspring.

Detailed explanation-3: -A gene change in a body’s reproductive cell (egg or sperm) that becomes incorporated into the DNA of every cell in the body of the offspring. Germline mutations are passed on from parents to offspring. Also called germline variant.

Detailed explanation-4: -Somatic mutations occur in non-reproductive cells; they are passed to daughter cells during mitosis but not to offspring during sexual reproduction.

Detailed explanation-5: -If mutations occur in non-germline cells, then these changes can be categorized as somatic mutations. The word somatic comes from the Greek word soma which means “body", and somatic mutations only affect the present organism’s body.