Question

Is the following statement true or false?

"The same mutation could be advantageous in some environments but deleterious in others."

Answer 1

Yes, the statement is true. The same mutation could be advantageous in some environments but deleterious in others. Mutations are random changes or alterations occurs in the genetic make up of an organism. That is a change in the DNA level. Mutation is a random process hence do not happen as a result of any environmental selection pressures. But the same mutation can be advantageous in some environments but deleterious in others depending on the selective pressure of the environment. For example, a dark body color of an organism helps that organism to hide itself from predators when it is in a dark background. At the same time, it gets caught by the predators in a light colored background. (Industrial melanism- Earlier, the number of white coloured peppered moth was higher than that of black colored peppered moth, because white colored moths were not easily visible to their predators while sitting on a light coloured tree trunk. But later due to industrialization, the lichens on tree trunks became dark colored and as a result, the white colored moths started to decline as they became easily spottable by their predators on a dark tree trunk. So the same mutation acted differently in different environmental conditions). Hence the above statement is true.