PROJECT CASE STUDY / PYTHON

DNA Mutation Simulator

Harshit Mishra · Student project

The problem

A small DNA edit can be difficult to follow across a long string. This project makes substitutions, insertions and deletions explicit and connects edits to downstream sequence operations.

Approach

Choose an edit, locate its position and compare the original and changed sequence. The original Python project also explores transcription and protein-level effects; the browser demo reports composition and mRNA.

Worked example

Reproducible example based on the described operations; not a captured Python execution.

INPUT
ATGGCT; substitute base 4 with A

EXPECTED OUTPUT
Original: ATGGCT
Changed:  ATGACT
Original GC: 66.67%
Changed GC: 50.00%
Changed mRNA: AUGACU

Key takeaway

Single-base insertions and deletions shift the reading frame if applied within a coding region. A substitution changes a base without changing sequence length.

Limitations

These edits do not predict disease, pathogenicity or a real biological outcome. Position numbering in the browser begins at 1.