Definition of "hypermutation" [hypermutation]

• Frequent mutation (noun)
• The organism or gene that results from such a mutation (noun)

Wiktionary.org : Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• "The same thing goes for the immune system (progressive improvement of binding), but somatic hypermutation is an informationally-driven process, with selection (and, in the case of SMH, it is an artificial selection) accounting for only a small part of the innovation."
• "When such patients were treated with Temodar and subsequently had a recurrence of the tumor, it was very likely to become resistant to treatment because of "hypermutation" -- an increased rate of gene changes that led to the tumor's ability to evade the drugs."
• "It is thus not inconceivable that some of the sequences in the proposed Universal Genome in the Origin of Metazoa might have no immediate effect on fitness, but still have a function by acting as a reservoir of genetic material on which variation inducing mechanisms such as sequence duplication, somatic hypermutation, gene conversion and homologous recombination can act upon during periods of selection."