If a population is small and isolated then inbreeding will increase the incidence of existing mutations.

Mutations can also become more prevalent if there is some positive benefit linked to the mutation. As an example sickle cell disease is a serious illness but its mutation spreads very stronly in area that have a serious malaria problem because carriers of the sickle mutation are quite protected against malarial infection and carriers constitute half of the children of sickle carriers but full scd occurs only 1:4 in their families and the 50% of protected offspring gives that mutation a big advantage even when the homozygous offspring are severely affected

population size can influence mutation dynamics, but it's just one of many factors. The interplay of mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, and migration all contribute to the prevalence of mutations in a population. The specific conditions and evolutionary history of a population will determine which mutations become more prevalent over time.

Dr Paul rutland and Dr Laraib Uroog thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Specifically, as effective population size Ne increases, natural selection becomes more effective in fixing beneficial mutations and removing deleterious mutations. A population with relatively fewer individuals, however, will have lower fitness on average, not only because fewer beneficial mutations arise, but also because deleterious mutations are more likely to reach high frequencies through random genetic drift. Genetic diversity is influenced by population size, with smaller populations having an increased probability of inbreeding, genetic drift, and the potential fixation of deleterious alleles, which decreases genetic diversity and adaptive potential. Effective size determines the rate at which populations lose alleles through random genetic drift and, together with the mutation rate; it determines the number of alleles expected in populations. More mutations are expected to occur in a larger population because there are more individuals to mutate.Being subjected to a lot of mutations can lead to decreased growth rates and heightened mortality; therefore, population size also tends to decrease as mutation rate increases, though here too we should expect to see a distribution in population numbers. Genetic drift is the reason why we worry about African cheetahs and other species that exist in small populations. Drift is more pronounced in such populations, because smaller populations have less variation and, therefore, a lower ability to respond favorably that is, adapt to changing conditions. A natural result of mutation is that new forms develop, and these new forms may or may not add to the fitness of the individual. If the fitness of the individual leads to a reproductive advantage then the alleles present in that individual will be more prevalent in the population. Over thousands of generations, many mutations will be introduced into a population and some of these will increase to a detectable frequency as a result of selection or genetic drift. Both of these processes may take a long time to make a measurable increase in allele diversity. Environmental exposures such as tobacco smoke, UV light, and aristolochic acid can result in increased mutation rates in cancer genomes. Mutation rates across individuals are also impacted by variability in the activity of certain cellular processes. When beneficial mutations are rare, they accumulate by a series of selective sweeps. But when they are common, many beneficial mutations will occur before any can fix, so there will be many different mutant lineages in the population concurrently.

Yes, population size affects mutation in two ways:

As a result, mutations are more likely to become prevalent in larger populations, especially if they are beneficial.

Here are some ways that a mutation can become more prevalent in certain populations:

• Genetic drift: This is a random process that can cause alleles to increase or decrease in frequency in a population, simply due to chance. This is more likely to happen in smaller populations, where a single mutation can have a larger impact on the overall gene pool.
• Natural selection: If a mutation is beneficial, it will be more likely to be passed on to future generations, and will eventually become more prevalent in the population. This is especially true in larger populations, where natural selection is more effective.
• Founder effect: This occurs when a new population is established by a small number of individuals. If any of these individuals have a particular mutation, it will be more likely to be present in the new population, even if it is not very common in the overall population.
• Bottlenecks: A bottleneck occurs when a population is reduced in size due to a catastrophic event, such as a natural disaster or disease outbreak. If any of the surviving individuals have a particular mutation, it will be more likely to be present in the future population, even if it was not very common in the original population.

It is important to note that mutations can be beneficial, harmful, or neutral. Beneficial mutations are those that give the organism an advantage in its environment. Harmful mutations are those that put the organism at a disadvantage. Neutral mutations have no effect on the organism's fitness.

Over time, natural selection will favor beneficial mutations and remove harmful mutations from the population. However, genetic drift and other random processes can also play a role in determining which mutations become more prevalent in a population.

Dr Murtadha Shukur thank you for your contribution to the discussion

I agree with Paul Rutland and Laraib Uroog that specifically, as effective population size Ne increases, natural selection becomes more effective in fixing beneficial mutations and removing deleterious mutations. Genetic diversity is influenced by population size, with smaller populations having an increased probability of inbreeding, genetic drift, and the potential fixation of deleterious alleles, which decreases genetic diversity and adaptive potential. Effective size determines the rate at which populations lose alleles through random genetic drift and, together with the mutation rate; it determines the number of alleles expected in populations. The efficiency of natural selection on mutation rate was shown to depend on population size and mutation effects. Large populations tend to have high mutation rates. Being subjected to a lot of mutations can lead to decreased growth rates and heightened mortality; therefore, population size also tends to decrease as mutation rate increases, though here too we should expect to see a distribution in population numbers. A population with relatively fewer individuals, however, will have lower fitness on average, not only because fewer beneficial mutations arise, but also because deleterious mutations are more likely to reach high frequencies through random genetic drift. When beneficial mutations are rare, they accumulate by a series of selective sweeps. But when they are common, many beneficial mutations will occur before any can fix, so there will be many different mutant lineages in the population concurrently. If for each individual having a mutation, two of its offspring also have it, then the mutation will rapidly spread through the population. If less than one offspring has it, the mutation will tend to be eliminated. A natural result of mutation is that new forms develop, and these new forms may or may not add to the fitness of the individual. If the fitness of the individual leads to a reproductive advantage then the alleles present in that individual will be more prevalent in the population. Over thousands of generations, many mutations will be introduced into a population and some of these will increase to a detectable frequency as a result of selection or genetic drift. Both of these processes may take a long time to make a measurable increase in allele diversity. Environmental exposures such as tobacco smoke, UV light, and aristolochic acid can result in increased mutation rates in cancer genomes. Mutation rates across individuals are also impacted by variability in the activity of certain cellular processes. Over time, as generations of individuals with the trait continue to reproduce, the advantageous trait becomes increasingly common in a population, making the population different than an ancestral one. Sometimes the population becomes so different that it is considered a new species.