diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/default.nix
index cdcf6c7b50aa..86067538b13c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/default.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub }:
+{ lib, gccStdenv, fetchFromGitHub }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  pname   = "muscle";
+gccStdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  pname = "muscle";
   version = "5.1.0";
 
-
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "rcedgar";
     repo = pname;
@@ -14,15 +13,26 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   sourceRoot = "${src.name}/src";
 
-  installPhase = ''
-    install -m755 -D Linux/muscle $out/bin/muscle
-  '';
+  patches = [
+    ./muscle-darwin-g++.patch
+  ];
+
+  installPhase =
+    let
+      target =
+        if gccStdenv.isDarwin
+        then "Darwin"
+        else "Linux";
+    in
+    ''
+      install -m755 -D ${target}/muscle $out/bin/muscle
+    '';
 
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Multiple sequence alignment with top benchmark scores scalable to thousands of sequences";
     mainProgram = "muscle";
-    license     = licenses.gpl3Plus;
-    homepage    = "https://www.drive5.com/muscle/";
+    license = licenses.gpl3Plus;
+    homepage = "https://www.drive5.com/muscle/";
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ unode thyol ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/muscle-darwin-g++.patch b/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/muscle-darwin-g++.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..41e5fc7ae476
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/biology/muscle/muscle-darwin-g++.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+
+diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
+index df16673..be3bd0d 100644
+--- a/Makefile
++++ b/Makefile
+@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ OS := $(shell uname)
+ CPPFLAGS := $(CPPFLAGS) -DNDEBUG -pthread
+ 
+ CXX := g++
+-ifeq ($(OS),Darwin)
+-	CXX := g++-11
+-endif
+ 
+ CXXFLAGS := $(CXXFLAGS) -O3 -fopenmp -ffast-math
+