What kind of mutation results in a change from the amino acid threonine to proline?

The change from the amino acid threonine to proline is classified as a missense mutation. In protein synthesis, mutations can lead to changes in the amino acid sequence of a protein. A missense mutation specifically refers to a single nucleotide change in the DNA sequence that results in the substitution of one amino acid for another in the protein product.

In this case, the mutation alters one codon, leading to the incorporation of proline instead of threonine. This is significant because it can impact the protein's structure and function, depending on how the properties of the substituted amino acid differ from the original. Missense mutations are often studied because they can have varying effects on the resultant protein, from benign to severe, based on the roles of the different amino acids involved.

In contrast, other types of mutations, such as synonymous mutations, do not result in any change to the amino acid sequence, while frameshift mutations and nonsense mutations lead to significantly different outcomes, such as alterations in the reading frame or the introduction of premature stop codons, respectively, which would not simply change one amino acid to another.