Mutation rate, as a biological process, denotes the frequency at which heritable changes in nucleotide sequence arise per genome, gene, or nucleotide per cell division or per unit time, driven by intrinsic molecular events such as DNA replication errors, spontaneous base modifications (e.g., deamination, depurination), transposable element activity, and exogenous DNA damage. It is modulated by DNA repair pathways, replication fidelity of polymerases, cell cycle control, and effective population size via selection on mutator or antimutator alleles. Mutation rate shapes genetic variability, influences genome architecture and stability, and constrains or facilitates evolutionary dynamics across cellular and organismal systems.
There is a limit on how many times a mammal can be cloned before suffering "mutational meltdown," Japanese scientists have discovered, after making 1,200 clones over two decades that started off with a single mouse.
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2026
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The name might sound like a Nordic god, but it is actually the molecular machinery that allows many different species to eat and grow: fungi, plants, whales, humans, flies. It is the mighty TOR protein. An expedition to Easter ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2026
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Most lethal mutations in wild fruit flies are driven by newly transferred jumping genes, not small DNA errors, according to a new study from Duke University. The findings, published in PLOS Biology, challenge decades of assumptions ...
Evolution
Mar 10, 2026
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All complex biological systems—like the DNA, RNA and proteins constantly being copied and built within our cells—are prone to errors. That means as life evolved to be more elaborate, it also had to evolve error-correcting ...
Evolution
Mar 5, 2026
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The preference of some mosquitoes in the Anopheles leucosphyrus (Leucosphyrus) group—including those that transmit malaria—for feeding on humans may have evolved in response to the arrival of early hominins in Southeast Asia ...
Evolution
Feb 26, 2026
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Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have discovered how mammalian cells prevent the gradual buildup of harmful mutations in mitochondrial DNA, the small but vital genome that powers every cell. The study, published in ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 14, 2025
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Mutations drive evolution, but they can also be risky. New research led by plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, published Nov. 10 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals how plants ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 12, 2025
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An international team led by Monash University researchers has uncovered the genetic code governing the way genetic mutations affect mRNA and result in disease.
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 20, 2025
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An international study has shown how and when entirely new gene mutations, known as de novo mutations, originate in dogs. A key finding is that higher paternal age increases the number of de novo mutations in puppies. Maternal ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 16, 2025
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A scaling law relates the expected number of mutants to the total population size of cells in a spatially constrained but growing population, which could help clinicians predict when cancers or bacterial infections might ...
Evolution
Sep 23, 2025
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