Question

Next-generation sequencing reveals six new mutations have occurred in the coding regions of genes in an individual diploid fly. if the coding regions of this fly comprise 100 million nucleotides per haploid genome, what is the mutation rate per nucleotide?

Answer 1

10^{-8} mutations per nucleotide. If there are 100 million nucleotides per haploid genome, there are 200 million nucletides per diploid genome. Six mutations divided by 200 million is 10^{-8}.