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Science 28 November 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5343, pp. 1563 - 1564
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5343.1563
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News

EVOLUTION:
Viruses Scout Evolution's Path

Virginia Morell

ARNHEM, THE NETHERLANDS--At a meeting of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology here in August, researchers described studies in viruses that point to a possible resolution of a dispute about the trajectory of evolution. One theory argues that evolution is like a staircase on which organisms evolve through a series of small genetic steps, while another postulates that genetic and environmental changes can derail the evolutionary process, picturing evolution as taking place on a landscape of numerous peaks and valleys where harmful mutations can displace an organism from a peak into a valley. The virus cultures described at the meeting suggested that both metaphors may be valid.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)