mutating

A mutate is when an organism or a living thing changes its genetic code. This can happen naturally through things like radiation or viruses.

You might hear people talking about how some animals have mutated over time to adapt to their environments. For example, if you're studying evolution, you might read that the peppered moth in England used to be light-colored and blended in with tree bark, but after pollution darkened the trees, a mutated version of the moth appeared with a darker color, helping it hide from predators. Scientists have also been able to mutate certain genes in laboratory animals to see how they react, which can help us understand human diseases and develop new treatments.