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Letter

Nature Genetics 37, 441–444 (1 April 2005) | doi:10.1038/ng1535

An empirical test of the mutational landscape model of adaptation using a single-stranded DNA virus

Darin R Rokyta , Paul Joyce , S Brian Caudle & Holly A Wichman

The primary impediment to formulating a general theory for adaptive evolution has been the unknown distribution of fitness effects for new beneficial mutations. By applying extreme value theory, Gillespie circumvented this issue in his mutational landscape model for the adaptation of DNA sequences, and Orr recently extended Gillespie's model, generating testable predictions regarding the course of adaptive evolution.