What Does Deletion Mutation Cause?

A deletion mutation occurs when a wrinkle forms on the DNA template strand and subsequently causes a nucleotide to be omitted from the replicated strand (Figure 3). Figure 3: In a deletion mutation, a wrinkle forms on the DNA template strand, which causes a nucleotide to be omitted from the replicated strand.

What diseases are caused by deletion mutations?

Deletions are responsible for an array of genetic disorders, including some cases of male infertility, two thirds of cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and two thirds of cases of cystic fibrosis (those caused by ΔF508). Deletion of part of the short arm of chromosome 5 results in Cri du chat syndrome.

Why is deletion mutation harmful?

1). Because an insertion or deletion results in a frame-shift that changes the reading of subsequent codons and, therefore, alters the entire amino acid sequence that follows the mutation, insertions and deletions are usually more harmful than a substitution in which only a single amino acid is altered.