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Subject: Re: Evolution From: Supercryptid posted Thu, Sep 20 2007, 10:53pm  I'm a Christian, but I have something to say in regards to this post. Your claim that there are no beneficial mutations is incorrect. First, let me explain that the common definition for beneficial and the mutational definition for beneficial can differ. In terms of natural selection, a beneficial mutation is a mutation that increases an organism's chances of surviving to maturity and reproducing or increases the chances for that organism's offspring reaching maturity and reproducing. A harmful mutation reduces its own prevelance in a population over time, whereas a beneficial mutation increases its own prevelance in a population over time (unless some event kills the individual or group that carries that founding mutation before it can spread). An example of a mutation that can be beneficial in the right circumstances is the sickle-cell mutation. In people that carry two copies of the sickle-cell allele, it typically is harmful. However, an individual that carries only one copy of the allele has none of the negative symptoms of the disease, but they also have a resistance to malaria. This is called "heterozygote advantage". In regions where malaria is prevelant, having 1 copy of this mutated sickle-cell allele will be beneficial because it will give you an advantage over those people that don't resist malaria. Hence, the sickle-cell mutation is preserved and spreads in these areas. Subject: Re: Evolution From: wisker posted Sat, Oct 6 2007, 3:38am  Im sorry I cant seem to find where i stated that there are no beneficial mutations. If I had you did a very good job of proving your point it was so good that i used it to help a fellow member understand how a mutation can be good. so thank you Subject: Re: Evolution From: wisker posted Sat, Oct 6 2007, 3:40am  i now see that you were talking to the guy i used your post as a reference to sorry about the confusion

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