Question

Sickle cell anaemia is an example of point mutation.

Hint:

Because of this mutation, the shape of the Red Blood Cell changes from a biconcave disc to an elongated, sickle-like structure under low oxygen tension.

Answer 1

Step 1: A point mutation is a change in a single base pair of DNA.
Step 2: In sickle cell anaemia, there is a substitution of Glutamic acid by Valine at the sixth position of the beta globin chain of haemoglobin.
Step 3: This is caused by a single base substitution at the sixth codon of the mRNA from GAG to GUG.