The Sagol Lab for Evolution Research

Our new paper in PNAS provides further evidence that the mutations driving evolution originate in a manner that is neither random nor Lamarckian and offers a new theory for how mutations arise. 

A few points to notice:
 

• While many papers have been published on mutation-rate averages across positions, our method (MEMDS) enables measuring the de novo rates of target natural individual mutations for the first time. 

• Because the patterns pertain to de novo rates of individual mutations at individual base positions, they cannot be explained by modifier theory. Therefore, they raise a fundamental challenge to the assumption of random mutation. 

• The paper briefly summarizes a new theory regarding how mutations arise. According to this theory, at the scale of individual mutations, each mutation has its own probability, and the causes and consequences of mutation are related. 

• Diverse phenomena are placed under a unifying umbrella, such as the evolution of the genome's architecture and the evolution of gene regulatory networks. 

• Parallels between mutational mechanisms and mechanisms of learning in the brain raise new, fundamental questions about how evolution happens. 

• It is proposed that evolution is driven not by random mutations but by the interaction of two forces: an external force of natural selection and an internal force of natural simplification.