Final answer:
A frameshift mutation almost guarantees an abnormal gene product as it changes the entire reading frame of the gene, leading to a nonfunctional protein. In contrast, silent mutations do not affect protein function, while missense mutations may or may not affect function, and nonsense mutations often result in truncated nonfunctional proteins.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Types of Mutations
Mutations in DNA can lead to changes in the amino acid sequence of proteins, which can affect their function. Among the types of mutations, a frameshift mutation is the one that almost guarantees an abnormal gene product. This occurs when there is an insertion or deletion of nucleotides that is not a multiple of three, hence shifting the reading frame of the gene. As a result, it changes every amino acid that follows the mutation, often producing a completely nonfunctional protein.
Other mutations include silent mutations, which do not affect the amino acid sequence of the protein because they result in a synonymous codon. Missense mutations result in the substitution of one amino acid for another, which may or may not affect protein function. Nonsense mutations create a stop codon in place of an amino acid, often resulting in a truncated and nonfunctional protein.