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Cancer and mutations
Cancer is a genetic disease because it is caused by mutations
in the genetic material of cells
It originates within the cells themselves
Typically the cells affected are the normal cells that make up
the body of an organism (called somatic cells)
© Pepo13
How the genome is expressed
In any given cell, only a subset of the genome will be used
Typically described as being “expressed”
© I, Madprime
Mutations
Errors can occur during the replication process itself
ie the template is correct but the replication enzymes make
an error
Errors can occur because the DNA template has been damaged
ie the replication enzymes make no errors, but what they
copy is an error
A T G T G G A C C G T C
A T G T G A A C C G T C
Categories of mutations
One or more nucleotide bases are deleted from the DNA
A T G T G G A C C G T C
A T G T G A C C G T C
Categories of mutations
One or more nucleotide bases are inserted into the DNA
A T G T G G A C C G T C
A T G T G T G A C C G T C
Categories of mutations
A section of DNA is moved from one location to another
(translocated)
A T G T G G A C C G T C
T G G A C C G T C A T G
Categories of mutations
Translocation may involve making a copy of the DNA section
(duplication)
A T G T G G A C C G T C
A T G T G G A C C G T C A T G
Categories of mutations
A section of DNA is flipped over (inverted)
A T G T G G A C C G T C
A T G T C C A G G G T C
Categories of mutation effects
Stopping protein production X
Changing identity of a protein
Might stop protein function X
Might change protein function
Knock-on effects
The cellular effects of mutations
Nothing happens
Acknowledgements
Academic content for Inside Cancer:
© Dr Momna Hejmadi (Lead Educator), Dr Lorenzo Caggiano, Dr Jim Caunt, Dr Andrew
Chalmers, Professor Laurence Hurst, Dr Alex Jeffries, Dr Julien Licchesi, Dr Adele
Murrell, Dr Chris Todd, Professor David Tosh, Dr Andrew Ward 2014
Production:
© University of Bath 2014
Images:
© Alison, M (2001) Cancer. DOI 10.1038/npg.els.0001471
© I, Madprime [CCO, GLDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0
© Pepo13 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]