“The underlying genetic mechanism of evolution is random mutation, and specifically mutation that is beneficial to life. Biology textbooks in theory present positive and negative mutations to students as though these were commonplace and roughly equal in number. However, these books fail to inform students that unequivocally positive mutations are unknown to genetics, since they have never been observed...” That’s interesting... Never thought of it like that before. It does seem odd.
There’s little question that most mutations are negative. That’s interesting... Never thought of it like that before. It does seem odd. There’s little question that most mutations are negative.
Thanks for the post!
The question whether mutations are "negative" or "positive" cannot be answered by looking at the mutation alone. It needs to be looked at, relative to the environment. For a male peacock, a large tail is a positive mutation, with regard to its chances of mating. But if you look at it in the context of its predators, a large tail is a particularly disadvantageous trait, simply because it drastically reduces the peacock's chances of escaping from the predator.
This leads to the ultimate idea that evolution, or mutations, needn't necessarily be positive or negative. How it fits the species in question, depends on what use it provides the species, during the particular time the mutation arises. If stupidity is rewarded, it will become a positive trait. Evolution is not always progressive, in the conventional sense.
“Thanks for the post!”
Thank you.
It’s like panning for gold... even if most of what is found is sand, the gold is still selected for.
Oh, and here’s a nice, beneficial mutation for you, in humans:
Science in the News Weekly
http://www.americanscientist.org/template/Newsletter?memberid=null&issueid=4621
scroll down to “Flipped”
An inversion is one of many types of mutation. This particular one seems to confer both increased fertility and
longevity.
Ichneumon, maybe you’d like to add this to your list.