What occurs during a missense mutation?

During a missense mutation, a single nucleotide in the DNA sequence is altered, which leads to the substitution of one amino acid for another in the resulting protein. This change occurs due to the process of DNA transcription and translation, wherein a codon in the mRNA, derived from the mutated DNA, codes for a different amino acid than it would have in the presence of the original nucleotide.

This type of mutation can have varying effects on the functionality of the protein, ranging from negligible to significant, depending on the role of the altered amino acid in the protein's structure and function. In contrast, the other options describe different forms of mutations: deletion mutations involve the removal of nucleotides, nonsense mutations create a stop codon resulting in premature termination of the protein, and gene duplication involves the entire gene being copied, neither of which aligns with the specific characteristics of a missense mutation.