Genetic drift, selection and the evolution of the mutation rate
Abstract
As one of the few cellular traits that can be quantified across the tree of life, DNA-replication fidelity provides an excellent platform for understanding fundamental evolutionary processes. Furthermore, because mutation is the ultimate source of all genetic variation, clarifying why mutation rates vary is crucial for understanding all areas of biology. A potentially revealing hypothesis for mutation-rate evolution is that natural selection primarily operates to improve replication fidelity, with the ultimate limits to what can be achieved set by the power of random genetic drift. This drift-barrier hypothesis is consistent with comparative measures of mutation rates, provides a simple explanation for the existence of error-prone polymerases and yields a formal counter-argument to the view that selection fine-tunes gene-specific mutation rates.
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A high mutation rate enables quick adaptation at an evolutionary scale but comes at the cost of increased deleterious mutations.
“c) becoming highly evolvable: a high mutation rate enables quick adaptation at an evolutionary scale but comes at the cost of increased deleterious mutations (Lynch et al., 2016;Nisioti and Moulin-Frier, 2022).”
From Dynamics of niche construction in adaptable populations evolving in diverse environments (2023) · cites this paper as Lynch et al., 2016
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Dynamics of niche construction in adaptable populations evolving in diverse environments
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- Authors
- Lynch, M., Ackerman, M. S., Gout, J.-F., Long, H., Sung, W., Thomas, W. K., & Foster, P. L.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lynch, Michael
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Genetics
- Published
- 2016-10-14
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 704-714
- ISSN
- 1471-0056 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0064
- OpenAlex
- W2529873061
- Cited by
- 911
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 82 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 123 · 2023: 125 · 2022: 133 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 112 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 69 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 7.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Reviews Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM036827, R01GM101672)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Keywords
- mutation rate evolution, genetic drift, natural selection, DNA replication fidelity, error-prone polymerase, genetic diversity, population genetics
- MeSH terms
- Biological Evolution, Humans, Models, Genetic, Selection, Genetic, Genetic Variation, Genetic Drift, Mutation Rate
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