In the real world, mutations are usually of limited effect. Of course, even when you get one, that's still just one cell if the mutation occurs in a mutlicellular organism, then it usually won't actually be expressed unless it occurs very early in the organism's prenatal development (like, when it's still a clump of cells you can count on one hand, or even still a gamete in it's parent's junk). These changes are mutations, and are basically the typos of the genetic world. Of course, those mechanisms are themselves imperfect, so in any given copy operation, something like one in every hundred-million base-pairs is copied incorrectly additionally, environmental conditions, like exposure to radiation, certain chemicals (called mutagens), or certain viruses, can introduce errors into a cell's chromosome. Reproduction is imperfect, so there are many error-detecting and error-correcting mechanisms to increase reliability. When Earth-creatures reproduce, their cells reproduce and have to copy their DNA.
'Beware the alien, the heretic, and the mutant.' – Thought for the DayĪ mutant is a creature with a genetic mutation that makes it differ noticeably from the majority of the species.
'ate the Emperor (not racist, just don't like 'em), luve Chaos, simple as 40 px This article or section is EXTRA heretical.