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Published February 1, 1950 | public
Journal Article Open

The Selective Advantage of an Adenineless Double Mutant Over One of the Single Mutants Involved

Abstract

In discussions of evolutionary specialization it is often suggested that if one reaction in a biosynthesis is blocked, the ability to carry out other reactions preceding this one in the series will tend to be lost as a result of mutation, provided that the intermediates involved are not themselves useful. Such a tendency would be predicted if mutations which result in loss of synthetic ability were more frequent, or of greater selective advantage than those which restore the ability. The possibility that loss of synthetic ability may sometimes confer a selective advantage provides an interpretation of the behavior of the adenineless strain of Neurospora which is discussed here. In each of three stock cultures of this strain there occurred spontaneously a second mutation to adenineless, and the cultures became genetically pure for the double mutants. Selection of the double mutants may be accounted for by the fact that, on the medium used, the double mutant in each reaches its maximum rate of growth more quickly than does the original single mutant.

Additional Information

Copyright © 1950 by the National Academy of Sciences Communicated by G. W. Beadle, December 28, 1949 The authors are indebted to Mrs. Mary Emerson who first observed that the cultures of ad-p which had lost the purple character had retained the requirement for adenine. Work supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation.

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