Question

Explain what it means for a section of DNA to be considered a molecular clock. Be sure to discuss the importance of neutral mutations in this measure of time.

Answer 1

  Neutral mutations are neither harmful nor beneficial. 

Therefore, they are invisible to natural selection. (Since they neither improve nor worsen one individual's chances of survival and reproduction over another.) 

However neutral mutations can still spread into the population by just random replications and matings. This is called genetic drift. 

In other words, they are 'silent'. They are mutations that exist and propagate in populations, but seem to have no effect at all. 

The reason they can become important to evolution is that a day can come when they *do* have an effect. In other words, even though an individual mutation may have no immediate effect on survival or reproduction, a *combination* of neutral mutations may provide some new benefit or harm ... at which point natural selection *will* act on that combination. 


I hope my answer has come to your help. Thank you for posting your question here in Brainly. We hope to answer more of your questions and inquiries soon. Have a nice day ahead!