What is the difference between DNA damage and DNA mutation?

Although both DNA damage and DNA mutation are types of error in DNA, they are distinctly different from each other. DNA damages are physical abnormalities in DNA such as single- and double-strand breaks, while a mutation is a change in the base sequence of the DNA.

DNA damages can be recognized by enzyme and thus correctly repaired if redundant information is available for copying. While most DNA damages can undergo DNA repair, the un-repaired DNA damages can accumulate in replicating cells, giving rise to mutations.

In contrast to DNA damage, DNA mutations cannot be recognized and repaired by enzymes once the base change is present in both DNA strands, which can cause alterations in protein function and regulation.