Question

Discuss the Neutral Theory and describe how it has contributed to our understanding of evolutionary processes.

Answer 1

Neutral Theory or the Neutral theory of molecular evolution states that the evolutionary changes or the most of the variation at molecular level within and between species is caused by genetic drift of mutant alleles that are neutral in the organism and not due to natural selection. The Neutral mutations are those molecular cahnges which does not affect an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in given environment. Most of the mutations are lethal hence those are removed by natural seclection process and they do not contribute to molecualr variation in within and between species of organisms. The mutation or variations that are not lethal are considered as the neutral mutaion mostly rather than beneficial. Hence according to this the lethal mutation are deleted by natural selection and the neutral mutation are responsible for genetic drift of mutant alleles leading to variation at molecular level within and between species.