Examples
Steffen Mueller at the Stony Brook University designed a live virus vaccine in which the pathogen was engineered to have synonymous codons take the place of normally occurring ones in the genome. As a result, the vaccine was still able to infect and reproduce, albeit more slowly. Mice were vaccinated with this vaccine and they showed a resistance against the natural polio strain.
Mental disorders can be caused by silent mutations. One silent mutation causes the dopamine receptor D2 gene to be less stable and degrade faster, under expressing the gene.
Also, deviations from average pain sensitivity (APS) are caused by both an ATG to GTG mutation (nonsynonymous), and a CAT to CAC mutation (synonymous). Ironically, these two mutations are both shared by the Low pain sensitivity (LPS) and High pain sensitivity (HPS)gene. What distinguishes LPS from HPS is that LPS has an additional CTC to CTG silent mutation, while HPS does not and shares the CTC sequence at this location with APS.
| LPS | APS | HPS |
|---|---|---|
| CAC | CAT | CAC |
| CTG | CTC | CTC |
| GTG | ATG | GTG |
A silent mutation in the multidrug resistance 1 gene, which codes for a cellular membrane pump that expels drugs from the cell, can slow down translation in a specific location to allow the peptide chain to bend into an unusual conformation. Thus, the mutant pump is less functional.
Read more about this topic: Silent Mutation
Famous quotes containing the word examples:
“There are many examples of women that have excelled in learning, and even in war, but this is no reason we should bring ‘em all up to Latin and Greek or else military discipline, instead of needle-work and housewifry.”
—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733)
“It is hardly to be believed how spiritual reflections when mixed with a little physics can hold people’s attention and give them a livelier idea of God than do the often ill-applied examples of his wrath.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)