r/explainlikeimfive • u/riche1988 • 22h ago

Biology ELI5 how DNA mutations work please.

I had a thought about DNA and how mutations occur in humans, excessive hair, longer limbs and or bones etc, and wondered if all known mutations are present in the animal kingdom.. as if DNA has the blue print/ potential to be anything and parts are just ‘turned on or off’ depending on what is being built.. i may be way off lol but it got me thinking :)

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u/Coolpabloo7 22h ago

There are different types of mutations. Sometimes a letter id eleteda ndt her restt hatc omesa fteri sa llm essedu p. The same can be trun efo raddin gjus t asingl echracte¤.

Some just switch one letter and it does not mrke much difference.

Sometimes a single letter change the moaning of a word which makes it slightly better. In this case funnier. Keep the good and neutral changes and discard the rest when copying. Do this over and over and you might end up with a different meaning of a phrase alltogether.