conditional neutrality

Draghi JA & Plotkin JB 2011 Molecular evolution: hidden diversity sparks adaptation. Nature 474:45-46.

• Sewall Wright, a vigorous proponent of the importance of epistasis in evolution, presaged the modern view in his comment¹¹ on Kimura's neutral theory:
• changes in wholly nonfunctional parts of the molecule ... occasionally give a basis for later changes which improve function in the species in question which would then become established by selection