Change; alteration, either in form or qualities.

As now employed (first by de Vries), a cellular process resulting in a sudden inheritable variation (the offspring differing from its parents in some well-marked character or characters) as distinguished from a gradual variation in which the new characters become fully developed only in the course of many generations. The occurrence of mutations, the selection of strains carrying mutations permitting enhanced survival under prevailing conditions, and the mechanism of hereditary of the characters so appearing, are well-established facts; whether and to what extent the mutation process has played the most important part in the evolution of the existing species and other groups of organisms is an unresolved question.

The result of the above process; a suddenly produced variation.

a variant strain of an organism in which the hereditary variant property is caused by a mutation{3}.

a random, wild, event

A random or induced event that can lead to an inheritable modification of the genome.

An allele present in a progeny that is not present in the genome of either its parents.