HOMEPAGE          |          PAGE 1          |          PAGE 2          |          PAGE 3          |          PAGE 4

               Gene mutations can be classified in two major way :  - Heriditary & Acquired ( or somatic)

Hereditary

• Inherited from a parent and present throughout a person's life in virtually every cell in the body.
• Called germline because the are present in the parent's egg or sperm cell which are also called germ cells.

Acquired ( somatic )

• Occur at some time during a person's life and present only in certain cells, not in every cell in the body.
• Changes can caused by environmental factors such as ultraviolent radiation
• Or an error made as DNA copies itself during cell division.