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A coherent theory of neutral evolution was first proposed by Motoo Kimura in 1968 [9] and by King and Jukes independently in 1969. [10] Kimura initially focused on differences among species; King and Jukes focused on differences within species. Many molecular biologists and population geneticists also contributed to the development of the ...
The neutral theory of molecular evolution, proposed by Motoo Kimura in 1968, holds that at the molecular level most evolutionary changes and most of the variation within and between species is not caused by natural selection but by genetic drift of mutant alleles that are neutral.
The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution is an influential monograph written in 1983 by Japanese evolutionary biologist Motoo Kimura.While the neutral theory of molecular evolution existed since his article in 1968, [1] Kimura felt the need to write a monograph with up-to-date information and evidences showing the importance of his theory in evolution.
Neutral mutation has become a part of the neutral theory of molecular evolution, proposed in the 1960s. This theory suggests that neutral mutations are responsible for a large portion of DNA sequence changes in a species. For example, bovine and human insulin, while differing in amino acid sequence are still able to perform the same function ...
Neutral evolution can therefore be visualised as a population diffusing from one set of sequence nodes, through the neutral network, to another cluster of sequence nodes. Since the majority of evolution is thought to be neutral, [ 14 ] [ 15 ] a large proportion of gene change is the movement though expansive neutral networks.
[3] [1] The surprisingly large amount of molecular divergence within and between species inspired the neutral theory of molecular evolution in the late 1960s. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Neutral theory also provided a theoretical basis for the molecular clock , although this is not needed for the clock's validity.
The neutral theory of molecular evolution assumes that most new mutations are either deleterious (and quickly purged by selection) or else neutral, with very few being adaptive. It also assumes that the behavior of neutral allele frequencies can be described by the mathematics of genetic drift.
In the late 1960s, the neutral theory of molecular evolution provided a theoretical basis for the molecular clock, though both the clock and the neutral theory were controversial, since most evolutionary biologists held strongly to panselectionism, with natural selection as the only important cause of evolutionary change.