what does deleterious mean
Hurtful noxious destructive pernicious as a deleterious plant or high quality a deleterious instance. 1  damaging to residing things. 2  Hurtful; noxious; destructive; pernicious; since, a deleterious plant or quality; a deleterious instance.
Finally, deleterious mutations, as the name suggests, pose a threat to the fitness of the organism, as they have harmful effects of the general health of the organism. In general, when considering population genetics, mutations are usually deleterious in nature; very few are beneficial or neutral.