Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

In vitro Mutagenesis

In vitro Mutagenesis

To learn more about the function of a gene, researchers can observe what happens when the gene is inactivated or “knocked out,” by creating genetically engineered knockout animals. Knockout mice have been particularly useful as models for human diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes.

In-vitro Mutagenesis

In-vitro Mutagenesis

To learn more about the function of a gene, researchers can observe what happens when the gene is inactivated or “knocked out,” by creating genetically engineered knockout animals. Knockout mice have been particularly useful as models for human diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes.

Spontaneous and Induced Mutations

Spontaneous and Induced Mutations

Spontaneous mutations arise infrequently during DNA replication due to errors in the process. A key factor behind these errors is tautomeric shifts in nitrogenous bases, where bases transition from keto to enol forms or amino to imino forms. This shift can alter base-pairing rules, leading to mutations. Additionally, reactive oxygen species (ROS) arising from aerobic metabolism can damage DNA, resulting in depurination (loss of a purine base) or depyrimidination (loss of a pyrimidine base).

Mismatch Repair

Mismatch Repair

Organisms are capable of detecting and fixing nucleotide mismatches that occur during DNA replication. This sophisticated process requires identifying the new strand and replacing the erroneous bases with correct nucleotides. Mismatch repair is coordinated by many proteins in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...

Mutations in Microorganisms

Mutations in Microorganisms

Mutations are heritable changes in an organism’s genome involving alterations in the base sequence of DNA or RNA. These changes can influence cellular processes and phenotypic traits, potentially transforming the unaltered wild type into a mutant form. Such changes, termed forward mutations, are pivotal in shaping the genetic diversity of organisms.RNA viruses exhibit the highest mutation rates due to the absence of robust proofreading mechanisms during genome replication. In contrast,...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Long-term effectiveness and overdiagnosis in the NHS breast screening programme: a cohort study with up to 33 years of follow-up.

British journal of cancer·2026

Same author

The Prevention Gap: Cervical Cancer in Older Women.

Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health·2026

Same author

Correction: Ten Recommendations for Modelling Cost Effectiveness of Screening: Perspectives of an International Stakeholder Group.

PharmacoEconomics·2026

Same author

Identification of Copy Number Variations in Familial Hemiplegic Migraine Genes in Suspected Hemiplegic Migraine Patients.

Biomedicines·2026

Same author

Exploring Vascular Contributions to Migraine: Association Analysis of Small Vessel Disease Genetic Variants.

Genes·2026

Same author

Colorectal cancer screening: An update to the American Cancer Society guideline, 2026.

CA: a cancer journal for clinicians·2026

Same journal

Tracking Synthetic Adhesins on Bacterial Surfaces with Immunofluorescence Microscopy.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2026

Same journal

Post-Selection Methods for Analyzing mRNA Display Selections and Optimization of Hits.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2026

Same journal

High-Performance Computing in Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS) Peptide Identification.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2026

Same journal

Engineering and Adapting Disulfide-Containing Proteins to Enable Intracellular Functionality.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2026

Same journal

AI-Driven Protein Research: From Prediction to Design.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2026

Same journal

Methods for the In Vitro Selection of Protein and Peptide Libraries Using mRNA Display.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Gene-targeted Random Mutagenesis to Select Heterochromatin-destabilizing Proteasome Mutants in Fission Yeast

Gene-targeted Random Mutagenesis to Select Heterochromatin-destabilizing Proteasome Mutants in Fission Yeast

Published on: May 15, 2018

Random-scanning mutagenesis.

Robert A Smith¹

¹Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. smithra@u.washington.edu

Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)

|August 3, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Random-scanning mutagenesis enables testing all 19 amino acid replacements at specific protein sites. This oligonucleotide-based method enhances functional studies of proteins like HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

More Related Videos

Optogenetic Random Mutagenesis Using Histone-miniSOG in C. elegans

Optogenetic Random Mutagenesis Using Histone-miniSOG in C. elegans

Published on: November 14, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Gene-targeted Random Mutagenesis to Select Heterochromatin-destabilizing Proteasome Mutants in Fission Yeast

Gene-targeted Random Mutagenesis to Select Heterochromatin-destabilizing Proteasome Mutants in Fission Yeast

Published on: May 15, 2018

Optogenetic Random Mutagenesis Using Histone-miniSOG in C. elegans

Optogenetic Random Mutagenesis Using Histone-miniSOG in C. elegans

Published on: November 14, 2016

Area of Science:

Molecular Biology
Protein Engineering
Virology

Background:

Oligonucleotide-mediated mutagenesis is key for altering DNA sequences.
Current methods often limit amino acid substitutions, hindering comprehensive protein analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce a versatile method for comprehensive amino acid substitution analysis.
To facilitate the study of protein function by exploring diverse residue changes.

Main Methods:

Development of a facile, oligonucleotide-based random-scanning mutagenesis technique.
Application of the method to a conserved polymerase motif in HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

Main Results:

The method allows for the generation of all 19 possible amino acid replacements at individual sites.
Demonstrated utility in studying functionally important regions of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

Conclusions:

Random-scanning mutagenesis provides a powerful approach for deep functional interrogation of proteins.
This technique expands the scope of mutagenesis studies for understanding protein structure-function relationships.