Reversion Mutation

∞ generated and posted on 2016.12.23 ∞

Mutation that directly corrects a previous mutation, such as towards restoring wild type.

A reversion mutation typically would be a kind of beneficial mutation, or at least that is the case if the original mutation is/was a detrimental mutation. A reversion mutation, in other words, can be one that restores a beneficial allele, though strictly speaking only "restores" is necessary for a mutation to be reversion mutation.

Reversion mutations can be quite rare since, technically, there is only a single mutational change that can be called a reversion, that is, a change that exactly returns genotype to that genotype that was previously present.

Contrast with compensatory mutation as well as with the concept of pseudoreversion.