Final answer:
Genetic mutations are changes to the nucleotides in a segment of DNA that codes for a protein. They can occur as point mutations or chromosomal alterations, such as deletion, duplication, and inversion.
Step-by-step explanation:
The changes to the nucleotides in a segment of DNA that codes for a protein are called genetic mutations. These mutations can occur in different ways, such as point mutations where a single nucleotide is changed, or chromosomal alterations where the structure or number of chromosomes is affected. Examples of chromosomal alterations include deletion (removal of a segment of a chromosome), duplication (insertion of an extra copy of a segment), and inversion (flipping a segment of a chromosome around).