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Adaptive mutations

Adaptive mutations are mutations that occur in nondividing or slowly dividing cells during prolonged nonlethal selection, and that appear to be specific to the challenge of the selection in the sense that the only mutations that arise are those that provide a growth advantage to the cell. The issue of the specificity has been controversial because it violates our most basic assumptions about the randomness of mutations with respect to their effect on the cell*.

The mechanism(s) of adaptive mutation are currently unknown.

*Hall, B. G. (1997). On the specificity of adaptive mutations. Genetics 145, 39-44.

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