Huntington's disease can be caused by a permanent alteration in an organism's genetic elements.
Huntington's disease . HD is typically inherited from a person 's parents , with 10 % of cases due to a new mutation . The disease is caused by an autosomal dominant mutation in either of an individual 's two copies of a gene called Huntingtin . In biology , a mutation is the permanent alteration of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism , virus , or extrachromosomal DNA or other genetic elements .