Mutation, Natural Selection, Genetic Drift, And Gene Flow

The four forces of evolution are mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow. Mutation is a change in one’s genetic code – happening in either point mutation or frameshift mutation. A point mutation is one base being substituted for another, and a frameshift mutation is when a base molecule is either deleted or inserted, causing the base to shift and a different amino acid to be produced. Natural selection is when characteristics that help insure one’s survival are passed from generation to generation. Natural selection helps generations produce or gain skills that will help insure their survival. Genetic drift is a random change in a populations alleles – the change in variability is slowed down, or when the offspring becomes

so different from the parent that it can be its own species. Gene flow is mixing alleles through migration – mixing two populations through migration.

Frameshift mutation is far more likely to lead to a defective protein compared with a point mutation because a frameshift mutation deletes or inserts a base molecule and causes the base frame to shift, while a point mutation just replaces the base frame. If a base molecule is deleted or added it will cause a different amino acid to be produced – one that the body does not need.

The Founders Effect can lead to a descendant population that differs greatly from its parent population over a relatively short period of time because the group that broke away from the original population won’t interbreed with each other. Instead, they will most likely breed with another population – a different species – and their offspring will become a mix off those two. Then as time goes on, the different generations will mix with other different species, which will result as the offspring becoming greatly different from its parent population.