Tensor tympani- The tensor tympani is the larger of the two muscles of the auditory canal, the other being stapedius. The muscle functions to dampen down sounds such as chewing. It arises from the cartilaginous portion of the eustachian tube as well as the adjacent section of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone.
A nonsense mutation in the leptin gene that results in a stop codon and lack of leptin production was first observed in mice in 1950. In the mouse gene, arginine-105 is encoded by CGA and only requires one nucleotide change to create the stop codon TGA.
A mutation is a change in a DNA sequence that alters the protein for which the DNA codes. Sometimes mutations occur due to damage from an outside source, such as ultraviolet radiation. Excess ultraviolet radiation from the sun sometimes causes mutations that lead a cell to become cancerous. Most mutations that damage a DNA strand are harmful. Other mutations occur due to deletion or insertion of DNA base pairs. One such deletion in humans confers HIV resistance or a delayed AIDS onset. Humans who are heterozygous for the mutation, meaning they possess one mutant gene and one normal gene, experience a slower progression of AIDS.