For mutations with small effects on fitness drift can overco

For mutations with small effects on fitness, drift can overcome the effects of selection if the strength of selection is less than 1/(2N). True False

Solution

For mutations with small effects on fitness, drift can overcome the effects of selection if the strength of selection is less than 1/(2N).

Answer: TRUE

In natural populations, genetic drift and natural selection do not act in isolation; both forces are always at play, together with mutation and migration. Neutral evolution is the product of both mutation and drift, not of drift alone.

The law of large numbers ( According to the law, the average of the results obtained from a large number of trials should be close to the expected value, and will tend to become closer as more trials are performed) predicts that when the absolute number of copies of the allele is small (e.g., in small populations), the magnitude of drift on allele frequencies per generation is larger. The magnitude of drift is large enough to overwhelm selection at any allele frequency when the selection coefficient is less than 1 divided by the effective population size.