Suppressor mutation

Suppressor mutation is a genetic mutation that reverses the effect of a previously existing mutation. It is a type of second-site reversion which can occur in a different gene from the one bearing the original mutation, and it can restore the wild-type phenotype.

Mechanism

Suppressor mutations work by compensating for the effect of the original mutation. This can occur in several ways:

• Intragenic suppression: This occurs when the suppressor mutation is in the same gene as the original mutation. The suppressor mutation can restore the function of the gene by compensifying for the original mutation's effect.

• Intergenic suppression: This occurs when the suppressor mutation is in a different gene from the original mutation. The suppressor mutation can restore the function of the gene by altering a second gene which compensates for the loss of function in the first gene.

Types

There are two main types of suppressor mutations:

• Same-sense suppression: This occurs when the suppressor mutation changes a codon back to its original state.

• Nonsense suppression: This occurs when the suppressor mutation changes a stop codon into a codon that codes for an amino acid, allowing translation to continue.

Applications

Suppressor mutations have been used in research to study the function of specific genes and the effects of mutations. They can also be used in genetic engineering to create organisms with desired traits.

See also

• Genetic recombination
• Genetic code
• Mutation rate
• Genetic variation

References

Suppressor mutation Resources
Need Help Finding a Doctor? WikiMD's DocFinder can help find general and specialist physicians.	Latest articles Most recent articles Ongoing trials.