Definition
Mutation accumulation theory describes two interconnected bodies of theory: (i) Germ-line mutation accumulation theory attempts to understand both the consequences of and the processes by which a population’s load or burden of spontaneously occurring germ-line mutations increases in the absence of purifying selection, which results from the fitness diminishing effects of these mutations, and (ii) Somatic mutation accumulation theory encompasses the related phenomenon of cell lineages within multicellular organisms accumulating mutations as a result of failures of DNA repair in the course of mitotic cell division. These phenomena have important implications for understanding the origin of variance and covariance among fitness salient traits and the maintenance of population viability in the case of germ-line mutation accumulation and senescence and oncogenesis (the mechanisms by which cancer-causing neoplasms form) in the case of somatic mutation accumulation.
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Woodley of Menie, M.A. (2021). Mutation Accumulation Theory. In: Shackelford, T.K., Weekes-Shackelford, V.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_2363
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