Question

A polypeptide in a wild type microbe contains the sequence leu-pro-tyr-ser-pro. a phenotypic variant of the species has the peptide sequence leu-pro-cys-ser-pro. this is an example of a(n) ________ mutation.

Answer 1

Answer;
Missense mutation
The description above is an example of a Missense mutation.

Step-by-step explanation;
When a missense mutation occurs in a DNA molecule, it alters one of the RNA codon sequences made during the process of transcription. This different codon will eventually cause a different amino acid to be inserted into a protein during the process translation;
For example in the above the change in codon resulted to the change in amino acid tyrosine to a different amino acid cystine

Answer 2

The answer is a misense mutation. In this case, the substitution of the tryosine amino acid with cysteine in the same position in the sequence does not affect the polypeptide becasue both tryosine and cysteine are polar animo acids. If the substitution in the polypeptide chain was by amino acids with different properties, it would affect the folding of the protein and change its conformation hence also affect its function.