Biology / Bio 1755 · Atom · ~20 seconds
Only Germline Variation Is Heritable
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Only genetic variation in an organism's germline, cells producing sperm or eggs, can pass to offspring and be subject to selection.
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A skin-cell mutation affects that cell's descendants but cannot reach the next generation, since it never enters the germline.
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A somatic mutation spreading through one tissue, as in cancer, is not population evolution — it never reached the gene pool.