Mutation Story

Bryan, a brilliant but timid and bankrupt scientist, is convinced that

evolution can be triggered by clouds of cosmic energy, and has calculated that
Earth is going to pass one of these clouds soon. Together with his friend and
partner Romer, Bryan convinced his classmate Tina to allow them access her
privately-owned space station. He also brings aboard Vanessa, a good friend of
Tina and Rina her shy and assertive pilot to navigate the spacecraft.

The five astronauts went on their mission to the outer

space for their experiment.

The astronauts make it home intact, however their lives

would change forever, when they end up being hit by a cloud of
cosmic radiation on their way. They begin to mutate, developing
strange physical characteristics because of their exposure to radiation
and other mutagens.

“What is happening to us,” asked Romer.

“Our bodies are undergoing mutation. We begin to mutate,” replied Bryan.
“Mutation? I never heard anything about that thing,” exclaimed Vanessa.

A mutation is a change in the

base sequence of DNA. It may
affect only one gene or they
may affect the whole
chromosomes

Yes! You are right Rina.

Mutations are caused by
mutagens. It may occur in two
different types of cells:
reproductive cells and body cells.
 “Oh I see. This mutation thing is a bit complicated,” Tina added.
“Let’s make it more complicated,” Bryan jokingly said. “There are two types of
mutations. These are gene mutation and chromosomal mutation.”
“So it is the main reason why we feel bizarre after our mission outer space,” said
Vanessa.

What we are experiencing is a

manifestation of gene mutation. It is a
mutation involving only one or few
nucleotide pairs which results to a
permanent change in the DNA sequence
that makes up a gene

Actually gene mutation has different

types and apparently each one of
you have experienced a different
type of gene mutation.

If that’s the case, what type of

mutation happened to me?
 “You have experienced Deletion. It happens when a one or more
nucleotide base is lost or deleted,” Bryan replied.

How about me? What type of

gene mutation occur in my body?

“Uhmm. I think what you are suffering is Insertion. This type

of gene mutation occurs when an extra nucleotide base is added or
inserted,” Rina explained.

“These two types of gene mutation- insertion and deletion, causes what’s called a
Frameshift Mutation,” Bryan expounded.

What about me? I think you

forgot about my condition.

“Yours is a different type of gene mutation. It is called Substitution

wherein one nucleotide base is substituted,” Bryan added.
“Actually substitution has three categories. First, if a substitution changes
an amino acid, it is called a Missense Mutation. Second, if a substitution of a
nucleotide base does not change the amino acid, it is called a Silent Mutation.
And lastly, if a substitution changes an amino acid to a stop, it is called Nonsense
Mutation,” explained Rina.
“Wait a minute! I was wondering how come you two, Bryan and Rina know a lot about
mutation?” asked Romer.
“Well, we have been classmate in Genetics class back in college year,” Rina clarified.
“And we used to be partners in laboratory activities back then,” Bryan answered.
“Oh! That explains why you are so knowledgeable about mutation,” Tina said.
“Anyway, thanks to both of you for explaining to us why we are feeling odd after our
mission outer space,” Vanessa uttered.
 Hold on for a second! I remember
you have mentioned the second type
of mutation. You call it
chromosomal mutation. Am I right?

Exactly! What we have talked a while ago was

all about gene mutation and its different types.
The second type of mutation is known as
chromosomal mutation. This occur as a result
of errors in crossing over during meiosis

“And we also have different types of chromosomal mutations.

Would you like to know about it?” asked Rina

“Yes! We’d like to. Let’s get this on,” Romer exclaimed.

The first type of chromosomal mutation

is translocation. Translocation occurs
when a piece of chromosome breaks off
and attaches to another chromosome.

The second type of chromosomal mutation is

inversion. This involves the breakage of a
chromosome in two places in which the
resulting piece of DNA is reversed and re-
inserted into the chromosome.
 “Is that all or do we have another one?” asked Vanessa.

“Oh I almost forgot. There’s still one more type of chromosomal mutation,” Rina replied.

“What is it?” asked Tina.

“Another type of chromosomal mutation is deletion. It occurs when a segment of DNA or

chromosome is loss,” Bryan explained.

“Are there some things you wanted to know about mutation?” asked Rina.

“Hmm. I guess that’s all we have to know about mutation and the different types of
mutation,” said Romer.

“What’s important is that we were able to know what happened to us during our mission
which resulted to this bizarre feelings,” Tina added.

“Next time, let us talk about how to deal with this mutation that we have acquired,” said
Vanessa.

“Yes we will! Maybe we can talk it out on our next mission,” said Rina.

‘I hope you have learned from our conversation today. Thank you for joining me in my
mission outer space,” Bryan said.

The friends parted ways and continue their own personal lives. As they go on with their
own lives, they will value the experience and the learnings they acquired during and after the
mission.