What is the importance of genetic variation?

Max Smyles answered 5 years ago

Genetic variation is what allows natural selection and more importantly new alleles to enter your population. By having different genetic combinations, individuals of a population exhibit different traits which may or may not be to their benefit in regards to social and environmental interactions. Because of genetic variation, certain qualities are preferred over others due to a given surrounding and therefore change the allelic frequency towards the favored allele. However, the environment consistently changes and eventually the preferred trait at a given point in time, may be disfavored later on. New traits must be present in population for adaptation to the new environment. This is possible due to mutation, which allows for new viable alleles to enter a population's gene pool. Now, with new alleles in the mix, some of these new alleles may code for traits that our more favorable to the new environment than are the previously favored alleles for the older environment. Natural selection can once again run its course. without genetic variation, any existing natural selection would weed out all inferior species. However once the environment changes, this "supreme" species will stand no chance itself since it cannot adapt.

Why Is Variation Important? Answer Variation offers a range of dissimilar attribute features which allow certain species to become immune to certain environmental factors. It leads to better survival chances, increases the speed of reproduction and conservation of the species.

1) The Importance of Genetic Variety by Dionis MacNair The loss of genetic variety can have a significant impact upon our native breeds. Nature does not provide parity of sex without good reason and when the ratio of male to female goes below one to thirty all genetic variation is lost in five generations. In ponies that is within about 40 years. Why should this matter? In-breeding fixes type but reduces adaptability. Circumstances always change, so the ability to react to and adapt to that change is vital for survival. Mutations within species frequently occur and most of them are insignificant. However some of them can be very beneficial and this is how evolution advances; for example Eclipse was bred from relatively moderate parents but his tracing ability was phenomenal. It was a skill he was able to pass on to his progeny, but his own sire never again sired anything like as good. Some mutations are potentially catastrophic if there is little genetic variety. A further complication is that recessive mutations can be carried for five generations before reappearing. The fact that a breed is numerous can be of no help in this situation. As an example from a different species, Holstein cows are very numerous but also have very little genetic variety, and now suffer very badly from lameness. However worse than the lameness, which in itself is a significant welfare issue, more and more frequently they are also suffering from fertility problems, not good news in a dairy cow! http://www.nationalponysociety.org.u...itforthefuture

Genetic variation can arise from random mistakes made when the DNA is being reproduced. Environmental factors, such as exposure to toxins, can influence the number of changes to the DNA sequence.

Transcript
David Ackerley (Victoria University, Wellington): Genetic variation in a population of plants or animals or organisms can arise in a number of ways. At the whole organism level, whats happening is you are getting this variation which arises just through random mistakes in that organism copying its DNA, or it gets promoted by things like environmental toxins, or smoking is a factor that contributes to heightened rates of mutation, and thats actually going to alter the DNA of a particular cell. It basically comes down to changes in the sequence of your DNA. And this can be things like deletions, it can be extra bits of DNA popping there, or just changes in the bases that are there, so from a G [guanosine] to a C [cysteine], or things like that.

And what happens is, when you get those changes in your genes, that translates into a change in the sequence of the protein that is encoded by that gene. So its kind of like if you translated a sentence into code and then you randomly swapped a few letters and then translated it back you wouldn't have the same message that you started with.

What Causes Genetic Variation?

Answer
The two main causes of genetic variations in human beings are exchange of genes during meiosis and also as a result of the action of various mutational processes. These variations lead to various phenotypic differences.