Insertion or deletion results in a frame-shift that changes the reading of subsequent codons and, therefore, alters the entire amino acid sequence that follows the mutation, insertions and deletions are usually more harmful than a substitution in which only a single amino acid is altered.
But between insertion or deletion, which of the two is more harmful?
Anyway both insertion or deletion of single nucleotide causes frame shift from that point of the gene. Both kind of mutation can introduce stop codon or abolish a stop codon. So, either way the expressed protein loses its identity and its function. Both are harmful for the organism in case of point mutation.
In case of deletion or insertion of a particular fragment of the gene, deletion could be more harmful than insertion, because the deleted fragment of the gene will never be replaced at exact size and exact position of the disabled gene. Whereas there could be a possibility/probability of the inserted fragment to get released form the disabled gene, in that case the gene would be functional again. Therefore in my view deletions are harmful than insertions pertaining to large fragments.
Hi there,
I don't think any general rule can be established on the effect of single nucleotide insertion/deletion. The effect will depend strictly on the sequence considered: insertion provoking +1 frameshift and deletion -1. Impossible to anticipate unless considering a particular target.
I agree with Dominique answer.
You can calculate, with the resulting mutated sequence considering the inserted or the deleted nucleotide), the new translated aminoacidic sequence and therefore see if it causes a premature stop codon (which is really harmful).
All depends on your target gene.....
Good Luck
Completely agree this will depend mainly on loci, notably a deletion or insertion in a post promoter codon region will have a knock-on effect to the rest of reading frame as noted by our knowledgeable peers.
Should also note that introns can be affected by all SNPs in the same way with varying effects on the spliceosome, for a simple example, if you look for self splicing RNA regions and run a melting point prediction on the self annealing regions with identified SNPs (wild/mut) this may shed some further light on the potential of a given SNP. Intron SNPs are unlikely to affect the reading frames.
There is also that minute fraction of the time when any of these de novo genes and their products could be beneficial for an organism within a given set of environmental stressors but this very rare.
It largely depends on where it happens and if it results in gain of function or loss of function and the affected nucleic acid, transactivating factors or cis acting elements involved.
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