Final answer:
A nonsense mutation is a genetic alteration that changes an amino acid codon into a stop codon, leading to premature termination of protein synthesis and resulting in a truncated, often nonfunctional protein.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process you are describing is known as a nonsense mutation. This type of genetic mutation occurs when a single nucleotide change in the DNA sequence transforms a codon that codes for an amino acid into one of the three stop codons: UAA, UAG, or UGA. As a consequence, during protein synthesis, the mutation causes the translation process to halt prematurely, resulting in a truncated and usually nonfunctional protein. The further towards the beginning of the gene this mutation occurs, the shorter and more likely nonfunctional the protein will be.