1. Mutations

2. Fact or Fiction All mutations are bad.
Our body has ways of fixing errors when we replicate DNA.
Mutation rates are fairly low.
The environment can cause mutations
Cancer is a mutation
Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a kind of mutation.
All mutations are passed on to offspring

3. What is a mutation? A change in the DNA sequence is a mutation
Essentially it is an error in the DNA sequence

4. Mutation Examples

5. The DNA Telephone Game
Every day your body copies and passes on the DNA in mitosis.
We are going to model this process. Each person passes along the DNA sequence by whispering it to the next “cell”

6. The DNA Telephone Game What happened to the message?
What would happen if our bodies made this many errors?

7. When Do Errors Occur? Our cells are dividing all the time
Before cells divide they replicate the DNA. This happen MILLIONS of times a day!
Sometimes, very infrequently, an error happens. This is a mutation.

8. When Do Errors Occur?
Our bodies are fairly good at making sure DNA doesn’t have errors
We have “repair mechanisms” to ensure our DNA is correct.
However the “repair mechanisms” aren’t perfect. Mutations still occur.

9. When Do Mutation Occur?
Mutations are random. There is no way to predict exactly where a mutation will happen. There is no way to know what a mutation will cause.
However, some things can increase mutations.

10. Things That Can Cause Mutations

11. Don’t all those things cause cancer too?
Yes! Cancer is a type of mutation that causes cells to keep dividing over and over and over.
Not all mutations result in cancer though

12. Other Mutations
Some mutations cause serious diseases like Cri-du-chat syndrome
This is a mutation that causes babies to be severely mentally impaired and have many health issues.
Other mutations go unnoticed because they don’t do anything at all

13. Good mutations Sometimes, very, very rarely, a mutation can be good.
One example of a good mutation is antibiotic resistance in bacteria
Every once in awhile (1 in a few million or billion) a bacteria will be resistant to antibiotics. This is really good for that one cell!

14. How Do Mutations Get Passes On?
Not all mutations get passed to offspring
This is why a person with skin cancer will not automatically have children with skin cancer
The only way for a mutation to be passed on is if that mutation occurs in the sex cells

15. Mutation Video

16. Fact or Fiction All mutations are bad.
Our body has ways of fixing errors when we replicate DNA.
Mutation rates are fairly low.
The environment can cause mutations
Cancer is a mutation
Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a kind of mutation.
All mutations are passed on to offspring