Answer:
Think of gene mutations like a recipe gone slightly awry in a cookbook! When there's a mutation that leads to a nonfunctional protein, it's like a sneaky change in the recipe that makes the final dish taste totally different (and not in a good way!).
There are a few types of these mutations:
Nonsense Mutation: This one's like a chef accidentally adding a "stop cooking" instruction way too early in the recipe. The protein-making process gets halted before it's finished, leading to a half-baked, nonfunctional protein.
Frameshift Mutation: Picture this as someone mistakenly adding or removing a few steps in the recipe instructions. Suddenly, everything that comes after those changes gets mixed up, and the protein ends up all jumbled, usually not doing its job properly.
Missense Mutation: This mutation is like swapping out a key ingredient in a recipe. Sometimes it's a small change, but it can totally alter the taste of the final dish. Similarly, a missense mutation swaps one "ingredient" in the DNA sequence for another, affecting the protein's function. Sometimes, it renders it nonfunctional.
These mutations can happen due to all sorts of reasons, just like how a recipe can go wrong from a misread instruction or an unexpected ingredient sneaking in. But in the world of genes, these changes can happen during cell division, or because of certain things in the environment like chemicals or radiation.
Step-by-step explanation:
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