For roughly a century after the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, scientists believed that genetic mutations were governed by a process similar to that described by the father of natural selection. The idea was that individuals with superior genetic variants would be more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on their genes than those without them.
在查尔斯·达尔文的《物种起源》发表大约一个世纪后，科学家们认为类似自然选择之父所描述的程序管理着基因突变的整个过程。上述思想认为相比不具备优秀遗传变异的个体，那些具备优秀遗传变异的个体将更有可能生存、繁衍和传递他们的基因。