Question

By which process miss-incorporated base can change into a permanent mutation?

• A. Replication
• B. Transcription
• C. Translation
• D. Transposition

Hint:

During DNA replication, errors can be introduced that may result in permanent mutations if not corrected by repair mechanisms.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

A miss-incorporated base only becomes a true, permanent mutation once it survives DNA replication uncorrected, because the next round of replication copies the incorrect base as if it were the original sequence, locking the change into the genome. Transcription and translation only affect RNA and protein products transiently, and transposition involves movement of genetic elements rather than fixing point errors, so replication is the process responsible for converting a mismatch into a heritable mutation.

Therefore, the correct answer is Replication.

Answer 2

Another way to think about this is to ask which of these processes actually produces a new copy of DNA that could be inherited by daughter cells.

1. Replication: This is the only process among the options that produces new DNA molecules, meaning any error uncorrected at this stage becomes embedded in the genetic material passed to daughter cells.
2. Transcription: This produces RNA copies, not DNA, so any errors made here disappear once that RNA molecule is degraded, without altering the genome.
3. Translation: This produces protein from RNA, a downstream process that has no mechanism for altering or being recorded in the DNA sequence.
4. Transposition: This relocates existing genetic elements rather than introducing or fixing single-base mismatches.

Since only replication generates inheritable DNA copies, it is the process through which a miss-incorporated base becomes a permanent mutation.

Therefore, the correct answer is Replication.