The neutralist view of molecular evolution maintains that the vast amount of molecular variation seen in natural populations is largely due to neutral mutations.
Keywords: molecular; variation; evolution; selection; neutral theory
Evolution: Neutralist View
Andreas Wagner, University of New Mexico, New Mexico, USA
Published online: December 2007
DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0005106.pub2
| Further Reading | |
| Ewens WJ (1977) Population genetics theory in relation to the neutralist-selectionist controversy. Advances in Human Genetics 8: 67–134. | |
| book Kimura M (1983) The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. | |
| Kreitman M and Akashi H (1995) Molecular evidence for natural selection. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 26: 403–422. | |
| Ohta T (1992) The nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 23: 263–286. | |
| Sayer SA, Dykhuizen DE and Hartl DL (1987) A confidence interval for the number of selectively neutral amino acid polymorphisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 84: 6225–6228. | |
| Sunyaev S, Kondrashov FA, Bork P and Ramensky V (2003) Impact of selection, mutation rate and genetic drift on human genetic variation. Human Molecular Genetics 12: 3325–3330. | |
