hard · MCAT bio-biochem
A researcher discovers a mutation in a bacterial gene where a single cytosine is inserted into the middle of the coding sequence.
What is the most likely consequence for the resulting protein?
- The protein sequence will be totally unaffected, since the genetic code's degeneracy buffers single-base insertions.
- Spliceosomal machinery will excise the inserted base during post-transcriptional mRNA processing before translation.
- A frameshift mutation will occur, likely resulting in a premature stop codon and a nonfunctional protein.
- Only one codon changes, substituting a single amino acid while the downstream reading frame stays intact.
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