Differentiate between transition and transversion.

In genetics, transition and transversion are two types of point mutations that occur in DNA sequences. They are differentiated based on the specific changes that take place in the nucleotides of the DNA molecule.

Transition: A transition is a type of point mutation where one purine nucleotide (adenine, A, or guanine, G) is replaced by another purine, or one pyrimidine nucleotide (cytosine, C, or thymine, T) is replaced by another pyrimidine. In other words, a transition involves the substitution of a nucleotide within the same category (purine to purine or pyrimidine to pyrimidine). For example:

Adenine (A) to Guanine (G)
Guanine (G) to Adenine (A)
Cytosine (C) to Thymine (T)
Thymine (T) to Cytosine (C)
Transitions are generally considered to be more common than transversions in DNA mutations.

Transversion: A transversion is a type of point mutation where one purine nucleotide is replaced by a pyrimidine nucleotide, or vice versa. In other words, a transversion involves the substitution of a nucleotide between different categories (purine to pyrimidine or pyrimidine to purine). For example:

Adenine (A) to Cytosine (C)
Adenine (A) to Thymine (T)
Guanine (G) to Cytosine (C)
Guanine (G) to Thymine (T)
Cytosine (C) to Adenine (A)
Cytosine (C) to Guanine (G)
Thymine (T) to Adenine (A)
Thymine (T) to Guanine (G)
Transversions are relatively less common than transitions in DNA mutations.

Both transition and transversion mutations can have varying effects on the resulting protein or gene function, depending on the specific location and context within the DNA sequence. However, since transitions involve substitutions between similar nucleotides, they are often considered to have a milder impact on the resulting protein compared to transversions.