point mutation

noun

, Genetics.

1. a change in a single base in a nucleotide sequence.

point mutation

1. A mutation in which one nucleotide is added, deleted, or replaced by another. Point mutations include missense, nonsense, frameshift, and silent mutations.

Word History and Origins

Origin of point mutation¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

In 2019, Liu, who is also an author of the Nature Biotechnology study, developed a technique called prime editing, which enables any kind of point mutation to be introduced, as well as insertions and deletions.

From Science Daily

Even so, scientists still don’t know how long a proton would need to stay in its unstable position for such a point mutation to actually occur, Hay noted.

From Scientific American

It needs only one point mutation to develop resistance to certain antiviral drugs, and such mutations happen all the time.

From Nature

Amplifications of both c-Ki-ras with a point mutation and c-myc in a primary pancreatic cancer and its metastatic tumors in lymph nodes.

From Nature

Errors in the genetic code in which one pair swaps for another, a change called a point mutation, can be disastrous.

From Washington Post