genetic drift

noun

1. random changes in the frequency of alleles in a gene pool, usually of small populations.

genetic drift

1. Variation in the frequency of a gene in a small isolated population, thought to be due to random chance rather than natural selection.

genetic drift

1. A term that describes the random fluctuations in a gene pool over time. In large populations, the effects of genetic drift are negligible. (Compare natural selection.)

Word History and Origins

Origin of genetic drift¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Additionally, ancient adaptation signals can be masked by genetic drift -- random fluctuations in the frequency that genes appear -- and population mixing, which causes certain adaptive traits to disappear from the gene pool.

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Interestingly, about half of these adaptive signals were detectable only in the oldest time periods, meaning they later vanished due to genetic drift or were masked by extensive population mixing.

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For some time, they were a small outpost, in which random mutations would make larger differences in the population -- more of what's called "genetic drift" -- as the 1800s became the 1900s.

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The team demonstrated that besides the high impact of genetic drift, which contributed to differences among neighboring groups of different socio-economic status, the descendants of Kwadi speakers and the marginalized communities of the Namib Desert retain a unique Pre-Bantu ancestry that is only found in populations from the Namib desert.

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Its genetic drift is significantly different from BA.4 and BA.5, the variants last year's bivalent boosters were targeted against.

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