BioConcepts

mutation rateMutationsrate (ger.)

• The rate at which mutations occur in a given gene or the genes of a population, usually expressed per generation. (OED 2011)
  category mutation

  1919

  the difference in mutation rate in different organisms and under different conditions

  Muller, H.J. & Altenburg, E. (1919). The rate of change of hereditary factors in Drosophila. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 17, 10-14: 14; cf. Muller, H.J. (1922). Variations due to change in the individual gene. Amer. Nat. 56, 32-50: 45; 46.

  1928

  The mutation rate in some treated cultures was estimated 15,000 times the normal rate

  Anonymus (1928). [Report of the Genetics Section of the American Society of Zoologists and the Botanical Society of America at the second Nashville Meeting]. Science 67, 124-125: 125; cf. Muller, H.J. (1927). Artificial transmutation of the gene. Science 66, 84-87: 84.

  1930

  if […] the mutation rates, both of beneficial and of deleterious mutations, are high enough to maintain any considerable genetic diversity, it will only be the best adapted genotypes which can become the ancestors of future generations

  Fisher, R.A. (1930). The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection: 122.