##  [Muller's Ratchet](/mullers-ratchet) 

  ##  [Muller's Ratchet](https://natural.quantumdictionary.io/mullers-ratchet-0) 

  

 [![Natural & Formal Sciences Dictionary](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Natural%20%26%20Formal%20Sciences.png.webp?itok=2kCDRVQv)](/topic-specific-dictionaries/natural-formal-sciences)



**Natural & Formal Sciences Dictionary**

 







 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Definition

An evolutionary process in which small asexual or effectively nonrecombining populations accumulate irreversible deleterious mutations over time because the least‑mutated genotypes can be lost by drift and cannot be reconstituted by recombination.