Point mutations can have a huge impact on the genome depending on where in the genetic code they occur. To illustrate this, we’re going to be looking at a case study in the form of almonds- formerly poisonous nuts which had their metaphorical fangs taken out by a single base change…
Sources for this episode: 1) Hardy, E. R., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Saint Basil the Great (online) [Accessed 22/05/2021]. 2) Herron, J. C. and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis (Fifth Edition, Global Edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. 3) Leman, J., Scientific American (2019), The Bitter Truth: Scientists Sequence the Almond Genome (online) [Accessed 18/05/2021]. 4) Petruzzello, M., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), almond (online) [Accessed 18/05/2021]. 5) Sánchez-Pérez, R., Pavan, S., Mazzeo, R., Molodovan, C., Cigliano, R. A., Del Cueto, J., Ricciardi, F., Lotti, C., Ricciardi, L., Dicenta, F., López-Marquéz, R. L. and Møller, B. L. (2019), Mutation of a bHLH transcription factor allowed almond domestication, Science 364(6445): 1095-1098. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Almond (online) [Accessed 18/05/2021].
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