Some questions about mutation.?

Question

1) Doesn't natural selection change the coding of DNA like mutation?
2) Where does mutation differ from the effects of natural selection?
3) Are mentally derangement and disablement etc. -from birth or not - forms of mutation?

Please number your answers.
Thank you very much.

The answers are different from eachother.
Which one should I trust? ./

Answer 1

1) no

2) Mutation is the random roll of the dice.
Natural Selection decides if that roll is a winner.

3) yes and no. It can be but very rarely.
Even if it was caused by a mutation originally, if it is passed on then its considered to be a "genetic defect" and not a mutation. Only the first time would it be called a mutation.

Answer 2

1) Natural selection acts on mutations, but doesn't cause mutations. Mutations can be caused by a number of things. Natural selection only affects how those mutations are passed around in any given population.

2) Mutations are the biochemical errors that occur during replication and multiplication of DNA. As I wrote above, natural selection just affects how those mutations are spread through the population.

3) I honestly don't have any clue about the number of mental disorders having a genetic link. I would think that most disorders have at least some genetic basis, but I'm not sure I would go as far as calling them mutations. Obviously some genetic disorders have a psychological link--Down's, Klinefelters, etc. It looks like more and more psychologists are finding genetic links to other disorders (see links below).

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Natural selection only says that the fittest will survive. It has nothing to do with any changes in the DNA. If mutations have occurred and if they are advantageous for the organism then that organism will be the one to mate.2. Mutation occurs before the selection. Mutations could be caused by cosmic rays, environmental polution, etc.3. Mental retardation could be hereditary as in Downs syndrom(mongolism) or others, it also can be caused by a problem during the birth or during the pregnancy.

Answer 4

1)No. Natural selection selects from the variation presented by mutations.
2)One answers this question. Mutation is random and natural selection is directed, though directionless.
3) Some mental problems are the result of deleterious mutation, but many are environmental insults during development.

Answer 5

natural selection is caused by mutation. sometimes the mutation is advantageous, sometimes not. but its any change in the DNA.

Mental problems are sometimes due to mutation, but generally its because of a disease (which was caused by a mutation many many generations ago and inherited) and sometimes it caused by a physical problem like lack of O2 at birth.

Any change in the DNA is a mutation. red hair was originally a mutation that over time spread through the gene pool.