Important Terms

mutation

somatic mutation

germ-line mutation

gene mutation

base substitution

transition

transversion

insertion

deletion

frameshift mutation

in-frame insertion

in-frame deletion

expanding nucleotide repeat

forward mutation

reverse mutation (reversion)

missense mutation

nonsense mutation

silent mutation

neutral mutation

loss-of-function mutation

gain-of-function mutation

conditional mutation

lethal mutation

suppressor mutation

intragenic suppressor mutation

intergenic suppressor mutation

mutation rate

adaptive mutation

spontaneous mutation

induced mutation

incorporated error

replicated error

strand slippage

unequal crossing over

depurination

deamination

mutagen

base analog

intercalating agent

pyrimidine dimer

SOS system

Ames test

transposable element

flanking direct repeat

terminal inverted repeat

transposition

transposase

DNA transposon

retrotransposon

replicative transposition

nonreplicative transposition

insertion sequence (IS)

composite transposon

hybrid dysgenesis

direct repair

base-excision repair

nucleotide-excision repair