Apolypeptide in a wild type microbe contains the sequence leu-pro-tyr-ser-pro. a phenotypic variant of the species has the peptide sequence leu-pro-cys-ser-pro. this is an example of a(n) mutation.

 The answer is a misense mutation. In this case, the substitution of the tryosine  amino acid with cysteine in the same position in the sequence does not affect the polypeptide becasue both tryosine and cysteine are polar animo acids. If the substitution in the polypeptide chain was by amino acids with different properties, it would affect the folding of the protein and change its conformation hence also affect its function. 

allowed for the prediction of the properties of missing elements.