Mutation-biased adaptation reaches the mainstream
The most recent issue of PNAS includes a report by Galen, et al linking enhanced mutation at a CpG site to altitude adaptation in Andean house wrens (Troglodytes aedon), based on clear biogeographic and biochemical evidence of adaptation. I’ve been waiting for this, both in the narrow sense that I’ve been waiting for this particular study to appear in print, and also in the broader sense that I have been waiting for any paper on mutation-biased adaptation to appear in a prominent venue. Results like these, one hopes, will overturn the “raw materials” doctrine of neo-Darwinism and stimulate the development of a new understanding of the role of mutation in evolution.