Chapter 26, Problem 28ESP

The original source of new alleles, upon which selection operates, is mutation, a random event that occurs without regard to selectional value in the organism. Although many model organisms have been used to study mutational events in populations, some investigators have developed abiotic molecular models. Soil et al. (2006. Genetics 175: 267-275) examined one such model to study the relationship between both deleterious and advantageous mutations and population size in a ligase molecule composed of RNA (a ribozyme). Soil found that the smaller the population of molecules, the more likely it was that not only deleterious mutations but also advantageous mutations would disappear. Why would population size influence the survival of both types of mutations (deleterious and advantageous) in populations?