HELP!! DUE IN 30 min! What causes a new trait to appear in an organism? 1.) all of an organisms DNA changes due to exposure to an event (this is a genetic mutation). 2.) a genetic mutation occurs in the sperm or egg cell of an organism and that mutation is passed to the offspring. 3.) an organism realizes that it needs to change and adapt to to its environment otherwise it will not survive. 4.) an organism learns from other species on ways that it can better survive in its environment.