Why does natural selection does not act directly on genes?

Answer 1

The natural selection process is a gradual one and is found to pose a gradual effect on the genes because the nitrogenous base bonds in the genes are not an easy task to alter and the hydrogen bonds existing between these bases would change according to change in the environmental barriers that arise out of catastrophes to which the selection has to incur. So the gradual modification is found to be observed in the level of genes in case of natural selection in animals. This was the case for Galapogous island finches in case of Darwinian studies in natural selection. The genotype variations are the gradual ones leading to changes in the phenotype of the organisms.

Answer 2

Selection acts directly on phenotype...expressed traits that decrease an individual's chances of surviving to reproductive age. Many alleles are rare enough that expression is almost nil so the trait remains hidden in the population generation after generation at the same frequency.

Domestic descendants of wild rabbits are a panoply of colors, all part of the gene pool where those colors were latent...or quickly eaten.

Dominant alleles are directly affected by natural selection only because phenotype and both the homozygous and heterozygous genotypes are the same meaning if they were a non-viable mutation they would potentially be 100 selected against in a

very few generations.

Answer 3

Natural selection acts on phenotypic traits that are coded for by genes, rather than directly on the genes themselves. Genes influence traits that affect an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a specific environment, and if these traits increase an organism's reproductive success, the genes responsible for them are more likely to be passed on to future generations.