Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:56:11.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the evolutionary adjustment of spontaneous mutation rates*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Motoo Kimura
Motoo Kimura
Affiliation:
National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Evolutionary factors which tend to decrease the mutation rate through natural selection and those which tend to increase the mutation rate are discussed from the standpoint of population genetics. The author's theory of optimum mutation rate based on the principle of minimum genetic load is re-examined, assuming that mutation rate is adjusted in the course of evolution in such a way that the sum of mutational and substitutional load is minimized. Another hypothesis is also examined that only selection toward lowering the mutation rate is effective and the present mutation rate in each organism represents the physical or physiological limit that may be attained by natural selection.

The possibility cannot be excluded that the spontaneous mutation rate is near the minimum that may be attained under the present mode of organization of the genetic material, and at the same time is not very far from the optimum in the sense of minimizing the genetic load.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 1967 , pp. 23 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

References

REFERENCES

Auerbach, C. (1956). Genetics in the Atomic Age. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.Google Scholar
Crow, J. F. (1959). Ionizing radiation and evolution. Scient. Am. 201 (Sept. issue), 138–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crow, J. F. (1960). Lecture notes on population genetics.Google Scholar
Crow, J. F. & Kimura, M. (1965). Evloution in sexual and asexual populations. Am. Nat. 99, 439–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. A. (1930). The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, R. & Crow, J. F. (1960). A comparison of the effect of lethal and detrimental chromosomes from Drosophila populations. Genetics, 45, 1153–1168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haldane, J. B. S. (1937). The effect of variation on fitness. Am. Nat. 71, 337–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haldane, J. B. S. (1957). The cost of natural selection. J. Genet. 55, 511–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haldane, J. B. S. (1960). Personal Communication.Google Scholar
Kimura, M. (1960). Optimum mutation rate and degree of dominance as determined by the principle of minimum genetic load. J. Genet. 57, 21–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, M. (1961). Some calculations on the mutational load. Jap. J. Genet. 36 (Suppl.), 179–190.Google Scholar
Morton, N. E., Crow, J. F. & Muller, H. J. (1956). An estimate of the mutational damage in man from data on consanguineous marriages. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 42, 855–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morton, N. E. (1965). Models and evidence in human population genetics. Proc. XI Int. Congr. Genet., pp. 935–951.Google Scholar
Mukai, T. & Yamazaki, T. (1964). Position effect of spontaneous mutant polygenes controlling viability in Drosophila melanogaster. Proc. Japan Acad. 40, 840–845.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, H. J. (1932). Some genetic aspects of sex. Am. Nat. 66, 118–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, H. J. (1950 a). Our load of mutations. Am. J. hum. Genet. 2, 111–176.Google ScholarPubMed
Muller, H. J. (1950 b). Evidence of the precision of genetic adaptation. Harvey Led., Series 18, pp. 165–229, Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Muller, H. J. (1958). Evolution by mutation. Bull. Am. math. Soc. 64, 137–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, 1958, New York.Google Scholar