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In evolution, it can scramble the information needed to reconstruct the phylogeny of organisms, how they are related to one another. HGT can also help scientists to reconstruct and date the tree of life, as a gene transfer can be used as a phylogenetic marker, or as the proof of contemporaneity of the donor and recipient organisms, and as a ...
In negative frequency-dependent selection, the fitness of a phenotype or genotype decreases as it becomes more common. This is an example of balancing selection. More generally, frequency-dependent selection includes when biological interactions make an individual's fitness depend on the frequencies of other phenotypes or genotypes in the ...
Evidence of complete selective sweeps is shown by a decrease in genetic diversity, and can be inferred from comparing the patterns of the Site Frequency Spectrum (SFS, i.e. the allele frequency distribution) obtained with the SFS expected under a neutral model (Willamson et al. 2007).
Horizontal gene transfer is the primary mechanism for the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, [8] [5] [9] [10] and plays an important role in the evolution of bacteria that can degrade novel compounds such as human-created pesticides [11] and in the evolution, maintenance, and transmission of virulence. [12]
Professor of biology Jerry Coyne sums up biological evolution succinctly: [3]. Life on Earth evolved gradually beginning with one primitive species – perhaps a self-replicating molecule – that lived more than 3.5 billion years ago; it then branched out over time, throwing off many new and diverse species; and the mechanism for most (but not all) of evolutionary change is natural selection.
The basic mechanisms of evolution are applied directly or indirectly to come up with novel designs or solve problems that are difficult to solve otherwise. The research generated in these applied fields, contribute towards progress, especially from work on evolution in computer science and engineering fields such as mechanical engineering. [6]
It defines evolution as the change in allelic frequencies within a population caused by genetic drift, gene flow between sub populations, and natural selection. Natural selection is emphasised as the most important mechanism of evolution; large changes are the result of the gradual accumulation of small changes over long periods of time. [39] [40]
But the debates have continued between the "gradualists" and those who lean more toward the Wright model of evolution where selection and drift together play an important role. [ 60 ] In 1968, Motoo Kimura rekindled the debate with his neutral theory of molecular evolution , which claims that most of the genetic changes are caused by genetic ...