Molecular Genetic and Genomic Analysis of Mutation Clusters Induced by Ubiquitous Endogenous Mutagenic Processes in Highly Sensitized Yeast Model Systems

在大约35亿年的时间里，地球上进化出了令人惊叹的生命多样性。自然选择的进化作用于一群生命形式中的遗传变异，这样具有优势遗传特征的个体更有可能存活下来，并将他们的基因传递给下一代。这种遗传变异大部分是以突变的形式发生的，突变是DNA信息编码内容的变化。突变总是以非常低的“背景”频率发生，但这些突变是如此罕见，以至于它们的起源很难研究，也不能很好地理解。

An amazing diversity of life has evolved on Earth over some 3.5 billion years. Evolution by natural selection acts on the genetic variation within a population of life forms, such that individuals with advantageous genetic traits are more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation. Much of this genetic variation occurs in the form of mutations, which are changes to the information coding content of DNA. Mutations occur all the time at a very low "background" frequency, but these mutations are so rare that their origins are difficult to study and not well understood.