Q.Write the salient features of Mutation theory.

Hugo de Vries' Mutation Theory proposes that new species arise suddenly through large, discontinuous, heritable changes (mutations), based on his observations in the evening primrose (Oenothera lamarckiana).

Working with the evening primrose plant Oenothera lamarckiana in the late 19th/early 20th century, Hugo de Vries observed that new forms with distinctly different, heritable characteristics appeared abruptly among the offspring of the parent plants, without any intermediate stages. From these observations he formulated the Mutation Theory, whose salient features are: (1) evolution occurs through mutations, i.e., sudden, large and discontinuous changes in the hereditary material, rather than through the gradual, continuous, small variations that Darwin's theory of natural selection relies on; (2) mutations arise randomly and are non-directional (they do not occur in response to a need); (3) the same mutation may occur repeatedly (recurrence) in a population; (4) mutations, unlike ordinary fluctuating variations, are discontinuous and are inherited faithfully by offspring; and (5) large mutations can, in principle, give rise to new species in a single step (saltation), rather than requiring the long gradual accumulation of variation proposed by Darwin. It is now known that many of the 'mutations' de Vries observed in Oenothera were actuall …