What kind of mutation would likely result in a shorter, nonfunctional protein?

A nonsense mutation is one that results in a premature stop codon in the coding sequence of a gene. This type of mutation occurs when a single nucleotide change leads to the formation of a stop codon instead of an amino acid during the translation of mRNA to protein. Consequently, the protein synthesis is halted prematurely, leading to a truncated version of the protein that is generally nonfunctional, or significantly altered in its ability to perform its intended role.

In contrast, a missense mutation results in a single amino acid change, which may or may not affect the protein's function depending on the location and nature of the substitution. An insertion mutation can introduce additional nucleotides, potentially altering the reading frame and leading to changes in the entire protein sequence, but it might not necessarily create a stop codon right away. A silent mutation, on the other hand, does not change the amino acid sequence of the protein despite being a change in the DNA sequence. Therefore, while a nonsensical mutation inevitably results in a shorter and typically nonfunctional protein, the other types of mutations are less likely to result in such a dramatic reduction in protein length and function.