Mutation Rates: Evolution

David Metzgar, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA

Published online: December 2007

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0006122.pub2

Mutation rates are controlled by genetic factors, which are themselves subject to evolutionary processes. Mutation rates (both local and global) are expected to evolve to allow adaptive change while minimizing maladaptive mutation.

Keywords: mutation; evolution; selection; modifier; evolvability

 References
    Bell GI (1996) Evolution of simple sequence repeats. Computers and Chemistry 20: 41–48.
    Chang DK, Metzgar D, Wills C and Boland CR (2001) Microsatellites in eukaryotic DNA mismatch repair genes as modulators of evolutionary mutation rate. Genome Research 11: 1145–1146.
    Drake JW, Charlesworth B, Charlesworth D and Crow JF (1998) Rates of spontaneous mutation. Genetics 148: 1667–1686.
    Harris RS, Kong Q and Maizels N (1999) Somatic hypermutation and the three R's: repair, replication and recombination. Mutation Research 436: 157–178.
    Högstrand K and Böhme J (1999) Gene conversion of major histocompatibility complex genes is associated with CpG-rich regions. Immunogenetics 49: 446–455.
    King DG, Soller M and Kashi Y (1997) Evolutionary tuning knobs. Endeavor 21: 36–40.
    Maley C (1997) Mutation rates as adaptations. Journal of Theoretical Biology 186: 339–348.
    McVean G (2000) What is driving male mutation? Current Biology 10: R834–R835.
    McVean GT and Hurst LD (1997) Evidence for a selectively favourable reduction in the mutation rate of the X chromosome. Nature 386: 388–392.
    Weber M (1996) Evolutionary plasticity in prokaryotes: a panglossian view. Biology and Philosophy 11: 67–88.
 Further Reading
    Baer CF, Miyamoto MM and Denver DR (2007) Mutation rate variation in multicellular eukaryotes: causes and consequences. Nature Reviews Genetics 8: 619–631.
    Bradley RD and Wichman HA (1994) Rapidly evolving repetitive DNAs in a conservative genome: a test of the factors that affect chromosomal evolution. Chromosome Research 2: 354–360.
    Kimura M (1967) On the evolutionary adjustment of spontaneous mutation rates. Genetical Research 9: 23–34.
    Kirschner M and Gerhart J (1998) Evolvability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95: 8420–8427.
    Kirschner M, Gerhart J and Mitchison T (2000) Molecular ‘vitalism’. Cell 100: 78–88.
    Leigh EG (1973) The evolution of mutation rates. Genetics 73(Suppl.): 1–18.
    Metzgar D and Wills C (2000) Evidence for the adaptive evolution of mutation rates. Cell 101: 581–584.
    Pennisi E (1998) How the genome readies itself for evolution. Science 281: 1131–1134.
    Rutherford SL and Lindquist S (1998) Hsp90 as a capacitor for morphological evolution. Nature 396: 336–342.
    Sturtevant AH (1937) Essays on evolution. I. On the effects of selection on mutation rate. Quarterly Review of Biology 12: 464–476.
    Wagner GP and Altenberg L (1996) Complex adaptations and the evolution of evolvability. Evolution 50: 967–976.

Related Sub-Topics:

Molecular Evolution | Variation by Mutation and Recombination | Evolution Rates | Evolution of Coding and Functional Modules
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

Article Title: Mutation Rates: Evolution
 
How to Cite close
Metzgar, David(Dec 2007) Mutation Rates: Evolution. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0006122.pub2]