What is a Mutant? Then and Now

A mutant can be an individual. An individual that has a ‘unique something’ no other individual has.

A mutant can be a group of individuals. A group of individuals that share a ‘unique something’ not found in all other individuals or groups of individuals.

If you’re from the early 20th century, that ‘unique something’ is probably the way the mutant looks. The mutant fly has white eyes instead of red. The mutant pea has wrinkly skin instead of smooth skin. The mutant person has an extra finger.

If you’re from the middle 20th century, that ‘unique something’ is probably related to the genetic (nucleic acid) sequence of the mutant. The mutant organism has an adenine in place of a cytosine at the equivalent base position of a gene. The mutant organism has two copies of a gene instead of one. The mutant organism has an extra chromosome.

If you’re from the late 20th century or are really into X-men, that ‘unique something’ might even be in the way the mutant behaves. The mutant can dance better than others. The mutant can regenerate better than others. The mutant can read minds better than others.

Now we’re in the 21st century and we have discovered many look mutants, genetic mutants and behaviour mutants (perhaps besides the mind-readers) and continue to do so every day. Indeed, I think the future of mutants in biology will still be in the pursuit of ever more ‘look mutants’, ‘genetic mutants’ and ‘behaviour mutants’. However, I believe it important to mention three more types of mutants in this modern era of biology.

The first two is the ‘molecular look’ and the ‘molecular behaviour’ mutant. They arise because we have the technology to measure the number and reaction rates of many types of biomolecules – DNA, RNA, protein, sugars, fats, and many many others – at unprecedented speed and scale. Though you might not agree, but I am convinced that all molecular look mutants must be also molecular behaviour mutants because the ‘unique number of biomolecules at a point of time’ is an outcome of ‘unique molecular reaction rates’. These mutants need not be look mutants and behaviour mutants either. One reason for this would be if a molecular behaviour mutant also happens to be a third kind of mutant - a ‘conditional’ mutant.

A conditional mutant is a genetic mutant that can turn out to be also to be a look or behaviour mutant only in the right environment and at the right time. Environment here could mean any combination of abiotic factors, like temperature, light and humidity, and biotic factors like interactions, competition and predation between two or more individual organisms. Two older terms associated with conditional mutants are genotype-by-genotype interactions and genotype-by-environment interactions, highlighting the necessary conditions for the ‘unique look’ or ‘unique behaviour’ to manifest.

I think that single individual living thing on this Earth is a mutant due to the imperfections of the processes that give rise to and maintain life. It is because of this that I think learning about the different types of mutants will only help us understand ourselves and our relation to others.

What do you think is a mutant? Draw it out on this canvas!