Plymouth Elementary School first grade students celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Legoland Discovery Center at Plymouth Meeting Mall by playing in a pile of more than 50,000 Lego bricks spilled by a dump truck at the Oct. 25 ceremony. | Photo courtesy Legoland Discovery Center.
If this DNA has a mutation, the child that grows from the fertilized egg will have the mutation in each of his or her cells. Acquired (or somatic) mutations occur at some time during a personâs life and are present only in certain cells, not in every cell in the body.
Mutations to DNA lead to changes in the proteins the cell produces, which modify the way the cell behaves, and can ultimately lead to diseases such as cancer. Exposure to radiation is considered a mutagen, meaning that it causes mutations in DNA.ffect of Ionizing Radiation. Ionizing radiation, the type of radiation released by radioactive materials, also contributes to DNA mutation. Like UVB, ionizing radiation causes direct DNA damage that lead to mutations.