What type of gene mutation involves a change in a single base pair in DNA?

A point mutation involves a change in a single base pair in the DNA sequence. This type of mutation can occur in various ways, such as through the substitution of one nucleotide for another. Point mutations are significant because they can alter the amino acid sequence of a protein if they occur within a coding region, potentially impacting the protein's function.

In the context of gene mutations, point mutations can be categorized further into missense mutations, where the amino acid sequence changes due to an altered codon, and nonsense mutations, which result in a premature stop codon. Both of these can be seen as specific types of point mutations, but they do not define the overall category that encompasses any single base pair change. Frameshift mutations, on the other hand, involve the insertion or deletion of nucleotides in numbers that are not multiples of three, which shifts the reading frame of the genetic code and usually results in more extensive alterations to the protein being produced.