The neutralist perspective on molecular evolution maintains that the vast majority of mutations effecting gene function are neutral or deleterious. Following a gene duplication where both genes are retained, it predicts that original and duplicate genes diverge at clock-like rates. This...

For many organisms, and especially for the model organisms of molecular and cell biology, the primary locus of study is the laboratory, and not their natural habitat. Thus, a huge body of knowledge accumulated through a century of laboratory studies contrasts with the limited amount of...