Re: Evolution of DNA and Code.

On May 5, 3:29=A0am, MicroTech <Henry.KO.Nor...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Back to my question about "cumulative selection": can someone tell me
how it is supposed to work? Why would potentially single "beneficiary"
mutations somehow lurk in the genome until another "benficiary"
mutation happens to cause another base pair to be properly linked up
to it, and so on, until suddenly a new "useful feature" is created (by
sheer random chance) for natural selection to work on?

Henry Norman

Cumulative selection is required to realise useful features based on
multiple mutations.
These mutations may occur over a period of time and initially manifest
as neutral. Despite being of
no immediate benefit, they are not lost to the gene pool, but are
carried forward (hitching a ride
with more favoured genes!) Ultimately, as the gene pool is mixed and
homogenised,
organisms may emerge with a complete set of these mutations.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Linus Torvalds quote
    ... the faster evolution happens, according to a recent article I saw recently. ... A huge gene pool needs more time to adopt it, ... fixation, that is not the same as adaptation. ... A standard result of population genetics is that the rate of change due to neutral drift is independent of the population size - a neutral change is fixed faster in a smaller population, but the greater number of mutations occurring in the larger population cancels this out. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: minimal sustainable human gene pool?
    ... Any ideas about the smallest possible human gene pool that is ... most of the population would die. ... a few mutations would be ... If the population was both zero growth and narrow in gene ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: Pressure"?
    ... My understanding is the survivors breed thus maintain their gene pool. ... the use of "pressure" and its implied application to a gene pool? ... most mutations do not "result in weaker forms". ... the change to it nor the changes in it environment. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Pressure"?
    ... "gene pool" is the population, ... I just wanted to make sure you understood that "gene pool" refers to the ... If there is less population pressure, a wider set of mutations ...
    (talk.origins)