ArticleGenetics2016
Mutation and Human Exceptionalism: Our Future Genetic Load.
Article in Genetics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evolution of the highest fidelity DNA replication systems.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Chemotherapy and the somatic mutation burden of sperm.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Human deleterious mutation rate slows adaptation and implies high fitness variance.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Little impact of new mutations on mammalian trait variation.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- An estimate of fitness reduction from mutation accumulation in a mammal allows assessment of the consequences of relaxed selection.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Forces driving transposable element load variation during Arabidopsis range expansion.The Plant cell · 2024Article
- Inborn errors of immunity: an expanding universe of disease and genetic architecture.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2024Review
- Parental care shapes the evolution of molecular genetic variation.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- A Law of Redundancy Compounds the Problem of Cancer and Precision Medicine.Journal of molecular evolution · 2023Article
- The long-term effects of genomic selection: 2. Changes in allele frequencies of causal loci and new mutations.Genetics · 2023Article
- Parental care results in a greater mutation load, for which it is also a phenotypic antidote.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- Very Low Rates of Spontaneous Gene Deletions and Gene Duplications in Dictyostelium discoideum.Journal of molecular evolution · 2023Article
- Origin of Sex-Biased Mental Disorders: An Evolutionary Perspective.Journal of molecular evolution · 2021Review
- The influence of evolutionary history on human health and disease.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2021Review
- Variability of Human rDNA.Cells · 2021Review
- Paternal Age is Negatively Associated with Religious Behavior in a Post-60s But Not a Pre-60s US Birth Cohort: Testing a Prediction from the Social Epistasis Amplification Model.Journal of religion and health · 2020Article
- Life's Energy and Information: Contrasting Evolution of Volume- versus Surface-Specific Rates of Energy Consumption.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Human adaptation over the past 40,000 years.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2020Review
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Abstract
Although the human germline mutation rate is higher than that in any other well-studied species, the rate is not exceptional once the effective genome size and effective population size are taken into consideration. Human somatic mutation rates are substantially elevated above those in the germline, but this is also seen in other species. What is exceptional about humans is the recent detachment from the challenges of the natural environment and the ability to modify phenotypic traits in ways that mitigate the fitness effects of mutations, e.g., precision and personalized medicine. This results in a relaxation of selection against mildly deleterious mutations, including those magnifying the mutation rate itself. The long-term consequence of such effects is an expected genetic deterioration in the baseline human condition, potentially measurable on the timescale of a few generations in westernized societies, and because the brain is a particularly large mutational target, this is of particular concern. Ultimately, the price will have to be covered by further investment in various forms of medical intervention. Resolving the uncertainties of the magnitude and timescale of these effects will require the establishment of stable, standardized, multigenerational measurement procedures for various human traits.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.