Some have no real effect, and are known as silent mutations.

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Such mutations, known as neutrino oscillations, were hinted at three years ago by results from Super-Kamiokande, an older apparatus in Japan.

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Similarly, Erivedge targets cancers in patients with mutations in a specific gene known as PTCH1.

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In subsequent studies, she unravelled how genetic mutations in this protein cause a rare inherited condition, known as neonatal diabetes, in which patients develop diabetes soon after birth.

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Many east Africans, southern Arabians and Indians share particular mutations of the genes in question which are found in energy-generating structures known as mitochondria.

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Case in point: the familial disorder known as lipoprotein lipase (LPL) deficiency affecting 1 to 2 persons per million, which is caused by mutations in the gene that codes the LPL enzyme.

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