Abstract
Models for the evolution of various phenotypes are sometimes constructed with an assumption that mutational effects will be symmetrically distributed about a static mean. This model produces a memory effect that over long evolutionary times results in an expectation that randomized sequences underlying the genetic architecture of the trait will on average retain the ancestral phenotype. This expectation is unrealistic and also inconsistent with our current understanding of processes of molecular evolution.
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Acknowledgements
I thank members of CCGG journal club at Temple for discussing these ideas with me during a journal club presentation. I thank David Alverez-Ponce and Jody Hey for reading and commenting on an advanced draft of this piece. I also thank comments from two anonymous reviewers and Associate Editor Michelle Meyer, who handled the manuscript.
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Handling editor: Michelle Meyer.
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Liberles, D.A. The Memory Problem for Neutral Mutational Models of Evolution. J Mol Evol 91, 2–5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-022-10084-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-022-10084-y