A DNA Replication Mechanism Can Explain Structural Variation at the Pigeon Locus.

For species to adapt to their environment, evolution must act upon genetic variation that is present in the population. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms that give rise to this variation is thus of crucial importance for understanding how organisms evolve. In addition to variation caused by point mutations, structural variation (deletions, duplications, inversions, translocations) is also an important source of variety.