Which of the following mutations is most likely the least ha

Which of the following mutations is most likely the least harmful of the mutations? Transversion of a nucleotide in the RBS region of a mRNA gene Deletion of two nucleotides in the 3-prime UTR Insertion of one nucleotide inside the ORF Transition of one nucleotide in the ORF

Solution

a. Transversion of a nucleotide in the RBS region of mRNA gene

Substitutions only influence a single triplet and their corresponding amino acid, leaving the remainder of the protein unchanged. This type of point mutation is the least harmful as there\'s no apparent influence on the protein. As there\'s redundancy in the amino acid coding scheme from mRNA this change in nucleotide base ends up not adjusting the amino acid coding at all.