Word.ws English Dictionary

Muller's ratchet

Muller's ratchet proper noun: the process by which the genomes of an asexual population accumulate deleterious mutations in an irreversible manner; proposed as a theory to explain the evolution of sex.

Proper noun

Muller's ratchet

  1. (evolutionary genetics) The process by which the genomes of an asexual population accumulate deleterious mutations in an irreversible manner; proposed as a theory to explain the evolution of sex.

Origin of Muller's ratchet

Named after Hermann Joseph Muller. See ratchet effect.

Questions about Muller's ratchet

What does Muller's ratchet mean?
Muller's ratchet means the process by which the genomes of an asexual population accumulate deleterious mutations in an irreversible manner; proposed as a theory to explain the evolution of sex.
What part of speech is Muller's ratchet?
Muller's ratchet is a proper noun.

Words near Muller's ratchet in the dictionary

  1. Mullenixes
  2. mullens
  3. Mullenweg
  4. muller
  5. Muller's morphs
  6. Muller's ratchet
  7. mullered
  8. mullerian
  9. mullerian duct
  10. Mullerian ducts
  11. mullering

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Muller's ratchet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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