In: Biology
Where would you expect to find mutations that reduce the expression of a bacterial protein-coding gene? At least two different sites are possible
Mutations are heritable changes that can occur spontaneously or can be induced. Mutations may occur usually during replication due to insertion or deletion of base or transition or transversion of base (purine to pyrimidine or vice versa). These replication errors are mostly corrected by proof reading activity of DNA polymerase enzyme. Sometimes, the mutation may be occurred because of change of base in DNA sequence is unnoticed. Such changes in DNA sequences may result in loss of function or gain of function of certain mutated gene. Usually, mutations that reduce the expression of protein encoding genes occur in promoters where the RNA polymerase is bound to initiate the transcription or in other regulatory genes such as operator or repressor that turn on or off the transcription of operon. Such mutations generally reduce the expression of protein encoding genes by turning off the transcription of operon.