Interview with Dr. Carbone Sebastion
Mutations
Dr. Carbone (below)
My name is Daniel Smith and today I’m here with special guest Sebastian Carbone to talk about mutations. So Sebastian, I have a couple of questions that I will ask you to know more about this subject. The first is what is a mutation?
SC: Well, a mutation is basically an error that happens during genetic duplication or other types of cell damage. They can be separated into two different groups, hereditary mutations and acquired mutations. Hereditary mutations are mutations that are inherited from a parent. They are present in almost all of the cells in the carrier's body, even the sex cells. This means, that if the person with the mutation fertilizes or gets fertilized by someone, they will pass on the mutation to their children. Acquired mutations are mutations that are received throughout the person’s life. They can get this from things like radiation or the sun or things like that. Also, their DNA could make a mistake during mitosis which will cause a mutation.
Page 11
DS: Ok, so there is two main ways of getting mutations. My next question is why do you get these acquired gene mutations?
SC: Well first, you need to know what a nitrogen base is and what a codon is. A codon is a strip three nitrogen bases. Codons make up amino acids and amino acids make specific proteins.Usually, in these mutations, something happens with these nucleoid bases.
DS: Ok thank you for that, now why do you get these mutations?
SC: Well, there are quite a few different types of acquired gene mutations. The first one is called deletion. This is when a nitrogen base gets deleted and all the other nitrogen bases have to move over to fill it in. This causes an alteration in the codons. Another one is Insertion. This is where a nitrogen base gets inserted and alters the codons like the previous type. You can also get a mutation that duplicates a segment of DNA. It is called duplication.
DS: What happens when you get these mutations, do you just get a different appearance or does nothing happen?
SC: So, there is three things that can happen when you get a mutation. Either nothing happens at all, you get a small change like eye colour or hair colour or curved ears, or sometimes the mutations result in death.
DS: Thank you for coming, Sebastion we hope to see you again.