The instructions for assembling polypeptides are contained in dna. consequently, mutations in dna sometimes affect protein structure. a mutation will initially affect a protein’s primary structure, but changes at higher levels of structure may follow.
point mutations are mutations that affect a single nucleotide pair in dna. the figure below shows different types of point mutations and the effects they have on protein primary structure.
in this activity, you will examine three different mutations.
a) drag the white and purple labels to the white targets to indicate what each mutant mrna codon codes for. (you will probably need to consult the codon table for mrna)
b) drag the pink labels to the pink targets to indicate the type of mutation.
c) drag the blue labels to the blue targets to indicate the effect on the polypeptide’s primary structure.