Question

If a mutation occurred that increased the number of exons in a sequence of DNA, what impact would this have on the protein formed from the gene

Answer 1

See the answer below

Step-by-step explanation:

An increase in the number of exons in a sequence of DNA would result in another protein with a longer amino acid sequence.

Exons are the coding part of a gene as opposed to introns. After transcription, the non-coding part of the gene - the introns - are removed by splicing and the exons are joined back together. The final RNA that will undergo translation consists of only exons.

The longer the exons in a gene, the more the codons present in the corresponding mRNA from the gene, and the more the number of amino acids that would be translated from the mRNA. A longer amino acid chain would result in a different protein.

Hence, a mutation that causes an increase in the number of exons in a sequence of DNA would result in a different protein with a longer amino acid sequence.