Outcomes of competitions between lineages with optimal (Uopt = 0.24) versus suboptimal (Usubopt) mutation rates in the explicit fitness landscape with a valley size of 3.

A total of 250 runs were performed for each treatment shown below. The two lineages started with equal numbers in all cases. The entries show the number of times that each lineage was fixed (i.e., reached 100% of the total population) or that neither lineage was fixed within 300 generations. With waiting time: all individuals started at the lower fitness peak (asterisk in Figure 3). Without waiting time: one individual belonging to the lineage with Uopt started on the other side of the fitness valley (triangle in Figure 3). Three different values of Usubopt were examined. P values are based on χ2 tests (with 2 degrees of freedom) that measured the effect of waiting time.