Deletion Mutation
Definition
A deletion mutation occurs when one or more nucleotide base pairs are removed from the DNA sequence.
Analogy
Consider your favorite recipe. If you accidentally skip an ingredient while cooking, it could drastically alter how your dish turns out. Similarly, if we lose some "ingredients" (nucleotides) from our genetic "recipe" (DNA sequence), it can significantly affect the resulting "dish" (protein).
Related terms
Nonsense Mutation: A mutation in a DNA sequence that results in a premature stop codon, or a nonsense codon in the transcribed mRNA, and possibly a truncated, and often nonfunctional protein product.
Missense Mutation: A type of mutation where one nucleotide is replaced by another. The change can result in coding for a different amino acid.
Chromosomal Deletion: This is when an entire section of chromosome is deleted during DNA replication.
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