HURDLE NUMBER 26. THE RECURRENT MUTATIONS HURDLE.
Now here is a further quote from an article entitled Mutation Breeding, Evolution, and The Law of Recurrent Variation by Wolf-Ekkehard Lonnig of The Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany. This article is available on the internet. Just type in a Google search for this title to find a pdf file that you can download or print off.
(Quoting from the Abstract on the first page):- “The most important generalization - - - will be termed “the law of recurrent variation”. It states that “treating homozygous lines with mutagenic agents generates large, but clearly finite, spectra of mutants” ”.
This paper argues that mutations cannot propel evolution. If you bombard a particular plant species with mutagenic agents, you will NOT get an infinite number of viable mutations for evolution to choose from. Instead, you will get a strictly limited number of mutation types that will repeat over and over again.
Quoting from page 56 of this paper:- “Neither plant breeders or geneticists have ever reported - - - - - any new stable races - - - - surviving better or at least as well in the wild in comparison with the wild type in which the mutation(s) have been induced”.
Quoting from page 59 of this paper:- “In the animal and plant kingdoms, selection limits have been detected which could not be overcome in spite of persistent intensified mutagenesis - - - - - treating homozygous lines with mutagenic agents generates large but clearly finite spectra of mutants.”
Quoting from page 50 of this paper:- “Almost all commercial breeding stations in USA and Europe have deleted mutation breeding from their research programs.”
Quoting from page 46 of this paper:- (The author states cautiously) “The finite nature of the mutant spectra found in plant breeding research might also have repercussions on the present theory of the origin of species.”