Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

What is Evolutionary History?

What is Evolutionary History?

Scientists record evolutionary history by analyzing fossil, morphological, and genetic data. The fossil record documents the history of life on Earth and provides evidence for evolution. However, both fossil and living organisms offer evidence that outlines Earth’s evolutionary history.

Speciation Rates

Speciation Rates

Mutations

Mutations

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...

Lethal Alleles

Lethal Alleles

Agouti: A Lethal Allele
Lucien Cuénot discovered lethal alleles in 1905 while studying the inheritance of coat color in mice. The agouti gene is responsible for the color of the coat in mice. This gene codes for an agouti-signaling protein, which is responsible for melanin distribution in mammals. The wild-type allele gives rise to gray-brown coat color in mice, while the mutant allele gives rise to yellow coat color. In addition to coat color, the agouti gene is associated with the yellow...

Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift

Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift

In a population that is not at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of alleles changes over time. Therefore, any deviations from the five conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium can alter the genetic variation of a given population. Conditions that change the genetic variability of a population include mutations, natural selection, non-random mating, gene flow, and genetic drift (small population size).

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Evolution of a trait distributed over a large fragmented population: propagation of chaos meets adaptive dynamics.

Journal of mathematical biology·2026

Same author

Unsupervised detection and fitness estimation of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants: Application to wastewater samples (ANRS0160).

PLoS computational biology·2025

Same author

The Baldwin Effect Reloaded: Intermediate Levels of Phenotypic Plasticity Favor Evolutionary Rescue.

The American naturalist·2025

Same author

High-throughput conjugation reveals strain specific recombination patterns enabling precise trait mapping in Escherichia coli.

PLoS genetics·2025

Same author

Impact of diffusion mechanisms on persistence and spreading.

Journal of mathematical biology·2025

Same author

Statistical Inference for the Evolutionary History of Cancer Genomes.

Statistical science : a review journal of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Development of Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes TILLING Populations in Small Grain Crops by Ethyl Methanesulfonate Mutagenesis

Development of Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes TILLING Populations in Small Grain Crops by Ethyl Methanesulfonate Mutagenesis

Published on: July 16, 2019

Population persistence under high mutation rate: From evolutionary rescue to lethal mutagenesis.

Yoann Anciaux¹, Amaury Lambert^2,3, Ophélie Ronce⁴

¹Bioinformatics Research Center (BiRC), Aarhus University, C.F. Møllers Allé 8, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution

|May 29, 2019

Summary

Evolutionary rescue from severe stress is possible but can fail if mutation rates increase too much, leading to extinction via lethal mutagenesis. This research explores how mutation rates impact population survival and treatment effectiveness.

Keywords:

Distribution of extinction times Fisher's geometric model evolutionary rescue extinction dynamics fitness landscape lethal mutagenesis

More Related Videos

Population and Single-Cell Analysis of Antibiotic Persistence in Escherichia coli

Population and Single-Cell Analysis of Antibiotic Persistence in Escherichia coli

Published on: March 24, 2023

Measuring Microbial Mutation Rates with the Fluctuation Assay

Measuring Microbial Mutation Rates with the Fluctuation Assay

Published on: November 28, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Development of Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes TILLING Populations in Small Grain Crops by Ethyl Methanesulfonate Mutagenesis

Development of Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes TILLING Populations in Small Grain Crops by Ethyl Methanesulfonate Mutagenesis

Published on: July 16, 2019

Population and Single-Cell Analysis of Antibiotic Persistence in Escherichia coli

Population and Single-Cell Analysis of Antibiotic Persistence in Escherichia coli

Published on: March 24, 2023

Measuring Microbial Mutation Rates with the Fluctuation Assay

Measuring Microbial Mutation Rates with the Fluctuation Assay

Published on: November 28, 2019

Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Population Genetics
Theoretical Ecology

Background:

Populations can genetically adapt to severe stress, a process known as evolutionary rescue.
Previous models assumed rescue relies on a single mutation, limiting adaptation to high stress levels.
Increasing mutation rates may enhance adaptation but also pose risks.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate evolutionary rescue in asexual populations with high mutation rates.
To analyze the impact of accumulated mutations on population survival and extinction times.
To evaluate the effectiveness of treatments against adaptable pathogens.

Main Methods:

Combined stochastic demography with Fisher's geometric model of adaptation.
Modeled populations with high mutation rates where multiple mutations can accumulate.
Predicted extinction probability and extinction time distributions.
Compared accuracy of different approximations across a range of mutation rates.

Main Results:

Moderate increases in mutation rates can favor evolutionary rescue.
Very high mutation rates can lead to population extinction due to lethal mutagenesis (accumulation of deleterious mutations).
The study predicts both extinction probability and extinction time distributions.

Conclusions:

Evolutionary rescue is sensitive to mutation rates, with a threshold beyond which it becomes detrimental.
Understanding mutation rate effects is crucial for designing "evolution-proof" treatments against pathogens.
Lethal mutagenesis presents a significant extinction risk for highly mutable populations.