Mutation rate is central to understanding evolution

Darwinian evolution relies on mutation as a constant source of variation, yet in evolutionary biology, mutation is often taken for granted, pushed to the background and treated as if it was random and uniform across all genes and all species. Mutation is an essential parameter in many evolutionary models, although often regarded as a “nuisance parameter” rather than the focus of interest—but mutation is a fundamental driver of evolution. Studying how rates and patterns of mutation are shaped by chance and selection is critical for understanding evolution of biodiversity, and has practical consequences for the way we use DNA to understand evolutionary history. Many evolutionary analyses—including genomics, population genetics, and phylogenetics—make simplifying assumptions about mutation rate, and the nature of these assumptions can influence the answers we get (e.g., Ritchie et al., 2022).