mutated

Mutated is the past participle and adjective of mutate. In biology, to mutate means to undergo a heritable change in the genetic material. Mutations may occur spontaneously through errors in DNA replication or be induced by mutagens such as ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation, certain chemicals, or biological agents. Most mutations have little or no immediate effect or are deleterious; a subset is neutral, while a few can be advantageous and contribute to evolution by increasing fitness.

Mutations can affect a single nucleotide (point mutations) or larger segments of DNA (insertions, deletions, duplications, inversions, translocations). They can occur in somatic cells, affecting only the individual, or in germline cells, potentially being passed to offspring. In coding regions, mutations can change or truncate proteins: synonymous (no amino acid change), missense (different amino acid), nonsense (premature stop), or frameshift (altered reading frame). Noncoding mutations can influence gene regulation.

The study of mutated genes and organisms is central to genetics, evolutionary biology, and medical research. Mutation rates vary by organism, genome region, and environmental exposure. Techniques such as DNA sequencing identify and characterize mutations, assess their effects, and reveal mechanisms of mutation and repair. In medicine, somatic mutations drive many cancers; germline mutations underlie inherited disorders. In agriculture and microbiology, induced mutations can be used in breeding or experimental models; many pathogens continually accumulate mutations that influence virulence or drug resistance.