Muller's ratchet

If you are a scientist and want to quantify the effects of Muller's ratchet in your favourite model system, evolution@home might be able to help you.

The principle of Muller’s ratchet: The main effect of Muller’s ratchet is the accumulation of slightly harmful DNA changes in a population over many generations. This can lead to the extinction of species and is thus of considerable biological interest.
How to quantify effects of Muller's ratchet: Evolution@home has compiled the largest existing database of Muller's ratchet simulation results. This allows quantifications of the threat of extinction and other aspects of Muller's ratchet with unprecedented accuracy. Depending on what you know about your favorite organism, evolution@home results might help to work out what the ratchet does there.