Question

Who coined the term ‘Mutation’?
(a)Morgan
(b)Darwin
(c)de Vries
(d)Mendel

Answer 1

Hint: The term mutation was introduced by a Dutch botanist. He was also one of the first geneticists and he was the author of the book ‘The Mutation theory’. He was also responsible for the rediscovery of Mendel’s works.

Complete answer:
The term mutation was coined by Hugo de Vries, while he was working on evening primrose. He observed aberrant types of plants in the F1 generation of two pure breeding varieties.
This sudden appearance of new characters in the subsequent generation was termed as mutation, which de Vries defined as a sudden, discontinuous, inheritable change in the genetic material.

Additional Information: Mutations may occur during DNA or viral replication, mitosis, or meiosis or any other type of DNA damage due to UV exposure or chemical damage, etc. It can also occur in case of an error-prone repair. Mutations may occur as a result of the insertion or deletion of segments of DNA because of mobile genetic elements.
Mutation results in many different changes in the genomic sequences. Mutations may involve duplication of many large sections of DNA and genetic recombination which form a major source of raw material for evolving new genes. Most genes belong to large gene families with common ancestry, which are detectable by sequence homology.
Nonlethal mutations accumulate and increase the amount of genetic variation. The abundance of certain genetic changes within a gene pool can be reduced by natural selection, while the other which are more favorable result in adaptive changes.
For example- A butterfly may produce many offspring with different mutations. Most of these mutations are effectless; but one might change the color of one butterfly, making it harder for predators to see. In such a case, the chances of this butterfly’s survival increases, and over time the number of butterflies with this mutation may form a larger portion of the population.

So, the answer is, ‘de Vries’.

Note: The term mutation or mutationism and the theory of natural selection were earlier two separate theories, but now it is proven that mutations and natural selection go hand in hand. Mutations introduce random changes in the gene pool, and natural selection ensures that the advantageous mutations are preserved and passed on to the next generation.