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Posted

I need some help with a research assignment, "How do you differentiate between driver and passenger mutations?"

I understand the difference between the two just not the methods used to sift through them.

Any help would be much appreciated :)

Posted
  On 5/12/2012 at 1:48 AM, Student1 said:

I need some help with a research assignment, "How do you differentiate between driver and passenger mutations?"

I understand the difference between the two just not the methods used to sift through them.

Any help would be much appreciated :)

 

I'd love to help, but I'm not sure what is meant by 'driver' and 'passenger' mutations. I'm currently a BS in genetics and I haven't heard of these terms.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I think driver mutation is going to refer to a mutation that causes cancerous growth, and passenger mutation is a silent mutation. It's simple to find out which one caused the cancer: compare the cancerous tissue DNA to the normal tissue DNA and look for mutations in the base pairs. If there is a codon that mutated, but ended up coding for the same amino acid, then it is a passenger mutation (or more commonly referred to as a silent mutation). If it coded for a different amino acid then it is a driver mutation and may cause cancerous growth.

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