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2007-01-06 15:18:59 · 3 answers · asked by professor x 2 in Science & Mathematics Biology

3 answers

By increasing the size of your population of rapidly reproducing organisms and subjecting then to a highly selective pressure. You induce beneficial mutations in the same way you induce harmful or benign mutations - something that causes transcription/replication errors in DNA. Of course whether the mutation is beneficial or not depends entirely on the environment of selection. Most mutations are either entirely neutral or lethal....
Think about bacteria being subjected to harmful (to them) antibiotics. It takes a mutation in one bacteria allowing it to protect from the action of the antibiotic to create disease resistance. It does not take that long in human terms but thousands of generations of bacteria...

2007-01-06 16:06:46 · answer #1 · answered by bill h 2 · 0 0

Mutations are totally random. Some happens to be beneficial, but most are doesn't make a difference or are harmful. One can induce occurance of mutations with radiations (like X rays) and chemicals (carcinogens), but whether the mutation will be beneficial is totally due to chance.

2007-01-06 23:25:51 · answer #2 · answered by Ms. K. 3 · 0 0

No. You can induce mutations with radiation and chemicals bu they occur randomly. Most will be harmful or neutral. One in hundred thousand will be beneficial.

2007-01-06 23:22:44 · answer #3 · answered by ivorytowerboy 5 · 0 0

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