BioConcepts

mutonMuton (ger.)

• The smallest element of genetic material that when altered can give rise to a mutation (usually identified as a single base pair). (OED 2011)
  category gene see also cistron recon

  1957

  The unit of mutation, the ›muton‹, will be defined as the smallest element that, when altered, can give rise to a mutant form of the organism.

  Benzer, S. (1957). The elementary units of heredity. In: McElroy, W.D. & Glass, B. (ed.). A Symposium on the Chemical Basis of Heredity, 70-93: 71.

  1982

  muton The mutational site within a gene; the smallest part of DNA that will produce a mutation when transformed.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 161.