a question about "mutations"

[Michali]

Are "mutations" actually what the word infers (it makes me think of genetic mishaps) or is it just the result of combining two different people into one? Like: I am a mixture of my mother and my father when they were (?) old and these gametes were alive/combined. So, I have become another (completely unique) person, that when I mixed with a different partner, there is a completely new person created from our combination. So, there is never really two of the same creatures. We just keep becoming "compounded" and we never stop being different (with the exception of cloning.)

Or are the mutations actually genetically as random as I once thought? That they just sort of messed up in development. I keep hearing people say, "they are not random", but I never knew what they meant. I just think they meant what I stated above. That the constant differentiation in evolution produces differences (mutations). Then these differences become concentrated and we have different species. Unless I'm wrong, I currently believe what was stated above.

Or... Are the mutations both? Proof- my brothers are all different than I. Each are from the same parent, but we are all different. Are the mutations occuring in gamete production? But, you can never step in the same river twice. I was born to a younger couple of parents than my brothers. Age/time not being the only factor as there are many different gametes existing at the same time. But, (even smaller) they are not all made the same way at the exact same spot at the exact same time. That mishappned randomness is not as big a factor as I once thought.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[WarHawk]

no, mutations can either be bad or benificitial. for example turtles on an island were there food was higher up in the branches/trees had notches in there shells so there necks could reach the food, as oposed to similar turtles on other islands were the food was lower. Basicly just Natural selection.

 

[Philosoft]

A genetic mutation is an insertion of an incorrect nucleotide base during DNA/RNA transcription. Mutations can occur at any point that DNA or RNA is being transcribed during cellular functioning. The mutations made famous by natural selection are largely meiotic. The overwhelming majority of mitotic mutations are harmful - some can be repaired by certain cellular mechanisms; some cause the death of the cell; some can cause the cell to become cancerous. The factors that phenotypically separate you and your siblings are, for the most part, not due to new mutations, but to genetic 'crossing over' during meiosis.

 

[Michali]

Aha. Thanks philo.

 

[Data]

Aha. Thanks philo.

Sarcasm?

The differences between you and your brother is just the result of your parents genes crossing over. It's a random process, and a random half of each parents genes are passed on.

Of course, you wouldn't really know if one of your features was a mutation. It's just much more likely that it wasn't.

Or are the mutations actually genetically as random as I once thought? That they just sort of messed up in development. I keep hearing people say, "they are not random", but I never knew what they meant.

You are right, mutations are random. Evolution though isn't, due to other factors. (natural selection etc)

 

[Jet Black]

The overwhelming majority of mitotic mutations are harmful

I thought the harmful rate was only something like 2.6 per 1000 mutations.

 

[ej]

I thought the harmful rate was only something like 2.6 per 1000 mutations.

The actual rate is high, but these cells don't survive.