Re:New antibody attacks 99% of HIV strains
by 46886532558 on Sunday September 24, 2017 @10:49AM
(#15324911)
Natural selection tends to work on traits that are relevant till the ability to reproduce ends. If the trait can dominate by rapid reproduction, life span does not matter and robustness is not selected for. Generally it is not an inherent trade-off between certain traits, apart from energy consumption.
This is true not just for bacteria but also for other living creatures; for example animals that have lots of children have very short average lifespans.
It makes me think that every living species must be at the absolute cutting edge of its capabilities genetically-speaking.