What is neutral drift in evolutionary biology?
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Neutral drift in evolutionary biology refers to the stochastic fluctuations in allele frequencies within a population due to random sampling in finite populations. This process can lead to the fixation or loss of genetic variants, reducing genetic diversity over time . In the context of protein engineering, neutral drift is used as an experimental technique to identify superior starting points for evolution. It involves repeated rounds of mutagenesis and selection to maintain wild-type function, allowing mutations that are largely neutral to accumulate while purging highly detrimental ones . In the field of genetic programming, the concept of Semantic Neutral Drift (SND) has been introduced. SND exploits equivalence laws to design semantics-preserving mutations that guarantee the preservation of individuals' fitness scores, leading to quantitative improvements in evolutionary performance . Overall, neutral drift plays a role in shaping patterns of genetic diversity and can provide a repository of genetic variation upon which adaptive selection can act .
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28 Citations | Neutral drift in evolutionary biology refers to the random changes in the frequency of genetic variants in a population due to chance events rather than natural selection. |
| Neutral drift in evolutionary biology refers to the stochastic fluctuations of allele frequencies in finite populations due to random sampling, which can lead to the fixation or loss of genetic variants and the reduction of diversity in a population. | |
| Neutral drift in evolutionary biology refers to the phenomenon where genetic variations that do not affect an organism's fitness can become fixed in a population over time. | |
10 Citations | Neutral drift is an experimental technique used in protein engineering to identify superior starting points. It explores sequence space by repeated rounds of mutagenesis and selection to maintain wild-type function. |
| Neutral drift is not mentioned in the provided paper. |
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