6. look at the following sequence: the fat cat ate the rat. delete the first h and regroup the letters in groups of three- write out the new groups of three. does the sentence still make sense? what type of mutation is this an example of?

Question

Accepted Answer

# Brief Explanations:
1. **Step 1: Process the original sequence**
   Original sequence: T H E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T
   Delete the first H: T E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T

2. **Step 2: Regroup into triplets**
   Regrouping by 3s: T E F | A T C | A T A | T E T | H E R | A T (Wait, no—wait, original after deleting H: "TEFATCATATETH ERAT"? Wait, no, let's do it properly. Wait, original sentence is "THE FAT CAT ATE THE RAT" → letters: T H E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T. Delete first H: T E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T. Now group into three-letter groups (reading left to right, no spaces):

1. T E F
   2. A T C
   3. A T A
   4. T E T
   5. H E R
   6. A T (Wait, no, that's not right. Wait, maybe I messed up. Wait, original sentence: "THE FAT CAT ATE THE RAT" → letters: T H E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T (let's count: T(1), H(2), E(3), F(4), A(5), T(6), C(7), A(8), T(9), A(10), T(11), E(12), T(13), H(14), E(15), R(16), A(17), T(18). Wait, no, "THE" is 3, "FAT" 3, "CAT" 3, "ATE" 3, "THE" 3, "RAT" 3. So total letters: 3×6=18. So original: T H E (1-3), F A T (4-6), C A T (7-9), A T E (10-12), T H E (13-15), R A T (16-18). Delete first H (position 2): now the sequence is T E (position 1-2), then F A T (3-5), C A T (6-8), A T E (9-11), T H E (12-14), R A T (15-17)? Wait, no, I think I miscounted. Let's write the sentence without spaces: "THEFATCATETHERAT" → letters: T H E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T (18 letters). Delete first H (the second letter): new sequence: T E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T (still 18 letters? Wait, no—original has 18 letters (6 words ×3). Deleting one letter (H) makes it 17? Wait, no, "THE" is 3, "FAT" 3, "CAT" 3, "ATE" 3, "THE" 3, "RAT" 3: 3×6=18. So "THE" is T(1), H(2), E(3); delete H(2), so now the first "word" is T(1), E(3) → wait, no, the letters are consecutive. So original: T H E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T (indices 1-18). Delete index 2 (H): new sequence is T (1), E (3), F (4), A (5), T (6), C (7), A (8), T (9), A (10), T (11), E (12), T (13), H (14), E (15), R (16), A (17), T (18). Wait, that's 17 letters? No, that can't be. Wait, maybe the original sentence is "THE FAT CAT ATE THE RAT" → with spaces, but when we remove spaces, it's "THEFATCATETHERAT" (18 letters: T-H-E-F-A-T-C-A-T-A-T-E-T-H-E-R-A-T). Deleting the first H (the H in "THE") gives "TEFATCATETHERAT" (17 letters? Wait, no—"THE" is 3, remove H: "TE" + "FAT..." → no, I think the problem is intended to have the sentence as a DNA-like triplet code, where each "word" is a codon (3 letters). So original codons: THE (T-H-E), FAT (F-A-T), CAT (C-A-T), ATE (A-T-E), THE (T-H-E), RAT (R-A-T). Delete the first H (from the first codon THE → T-E-? Wait, no, the first codon is T-H-E. Deleting H (the middle letter) makes the first codon T-E-? But then we need to regroup all letters into triplets, shifting the reading frame. Ah! This is a frameshift mutation (deletion of one nucleotide, shifting the reading frame).

So after deleting H, the new sequence (without spaces) is "TEFATCATETHERAT" (wait, no—original is "THEFATCATETHERAT" (18 letters). Delete H (so 17 letters? No, maybe the problem has a typo, but the key is: when you delete one letter (a base in DNA), the reading frame (grouping into triplets) shifts.

Let's do it correctly:

Original triplets (codons):
   1. T H E
   2. F A T
   3. C A T
   4. A T E
   5. T H E
   6. R A T

Delete the first H (from codon 1: T H E → remove H, so codon 1 becomes T E (but we need to regroup all letters as triplets, so the new sequence is T E F A T C A T A T E T H E R A T (let's count: T(1), E(2), F(3), A(4), T(5), C(6), A(7), T(8), A(9), T(10), E(11), T(12), H(13), E(14), R(15), A(16), T(17). Wait, that's 17 letters, but maybe the problem assumes that we just shift the frame, so the new triplets are:

1. T E F
   2. A T C
   3. A T A
   4. T E T
   5. H E R
   6. A T (but this is incomplete, but maybe the problem simplifies it).

Now, does the sentence make sense? The original sentence is about a fat cat eating a rat. After deletion, the new triplets (if we read them as words) would be "TEF", "ATC", "ATA", "TET", "HER", "AT"—which is nonsense, like a frameshift mutation in DNA where the codons shift, leading to a nonfunctional protein (nonsense or missense, but here it's a frameshift).

**Type of mutation**: This is a **frameshift mutation** (specifically a deletion of one nucleotide, which shifts the reading frame of the codons, leading to a completely different sequence of "words" (codons) downstream of the mutation).

# Answer:
- **New groups of three**: After deleting the first H and regrouping, the triplets are $ \boldsymbol{TEF} $, $ \boldsymbol{ATC} $, $ \boldsymbol{ATA} $, $ \boldsymbol{TET} $, $ \boldsymbol{HER} $, $ \boldsymbol{AT} $ (note: the last group may be truncated, but the key is the frame shift).
- **Does it still make sense?** No, the new triplets do not form meaningful words (like the original "THE", "FAT", etc.), so the sentence no longer makes sense.
- **Type of mutation**: This is an example of a **frameshift mutation** (specifically a deletion mutation that shifts the reading frame of the genetic code, analogous to how deleting a letter shifts the grouping of words into triplets).

Sovi.AI - AI Math Tutor

QUESTION IMAGE

Question

Explanation:

Answer: