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Revision as of 00:06, 14 September 2006 by Telesiphe (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)"Adaptive mutation" is not a recognized term in the scientific literature: most mutation is non-adaptive or strongly deleterious. Mutations are therefore extremely rarely adaptive.
Adaptation can however occur when a mutation happens to be are advantageous, which is thought to be a rare occurrence. This mutation will then enhance the fitness of the individuals that bear the new form of the gene, leading to greater reproductive output and replacement in the population of the old form of the gene by the new form with the adaptive trait.
The implication of the term "adaptive mutation", that mutations could be directed in some way by the need of the organism for some particular benefit is unlikely, because we know of no mechanism to achieve this.
This article was written in order to provide information to those who encountered the term in the article on speciation, and should be deleted if the term is deleted from that article.