The Atacama Desert, a 1000km stretch of parched wasteland, separates it from Peru to the north. And to the west, only a few islands dotted in the Pacific Ocean break the waves that roll onto Chileâs coast from Australasia.
What is a mutation? A mutation is a change that occurs in our DNA sequence, either due to mistakes when the DNA is copied or as the result of environmental factors such as UV light and cigarette smoke.
1 Mutations are random changes and are independent of any 'requirements' of organisms. 2  Mutations are induced by the chemical reactions that a particular DNA molecule experiences. 3  Thus each type of mutation occurs at its own rate.