Question

What is the difference between a silent mutation, point mutation and a missense mutation?

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Answer 1

Both silent and missense mutations fall under point mutation.

A point mutation is a general term used for gene mutations that occur due to a single base pair change, that may involve deletion, insertion, or substitution of a nucleotide base in the DNA sequence.

Silent mutations occur when the substitution of a nucleotide base does not result in a change in the amino acid sequence. This is because of the degeneracy of the genetic code where more than one codon codes for an amino acid. For instance, the codons GAA and GAG both code for the amino acid Glutamic acid. A base substitution from A to G or G to A in the third nucleotide would still result in the synthesis of glutamic acid.

Missense mutations are the opposite of silent mutations where the base substitutions do result in change in the amino acid sequence. In the same example of Glutamic acid above, if the third nucleotide base A or G is substituted with C then it results in the synthesis of Aspartic acid instead of Glutamic acid.