Heartworms are spread to dogs through mosquito bites. Up to 14 inches long, a heartworm lives in the heart and the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the lungs. Heartworms affect how the heart functions and how blood clots and is likely to cause death if untreated. Monthly heartworm preventives are effective.
missense mutation. A substitution of a single DNA nucleotide for another. This results in the transcription of a different amino acid than is normally found in the protein coded by the gene. Missense mutations are found in diseases such as sickle cell anemia.
Missense mutation: A genetic change that results in the substitution of one amino acid in protein for another. A missense mutation is responsible for sickle hemoglobin, the molecular basis of sickle cell trait and sickle cell anemia. Search MedTerms: