Punctuated evolution for the quasispecies model

Joachim Krug and Christian Karl

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2003, vol. 318, issue 1, 137-143

Abstract: Biological evolution in a sequence space with random fitnesses is studied within Eigen's quasispecies model. A strong selection limit is employed, in which the population resides at a single sequence at all times. Evolutionary trajectories start at a randomly chosen sequence and proceed to the global fitness maximum through a small number of intermittent jumps. The distribution of the total evolution time displays a universal power law tail with exponent −2. Simulations show that the evolutionary dynamics is very well represented by a simplified shell model, in which the sub-populations at local fitness maxima grow independently. The shell model allows for highly efficient simulations, and provides a simple geometric picture of the evolutionary trajectories.

Keywords: Biological evolution; Sequence space; Quasispecies; Extremal statistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:318:y:2003:i:1:p:137-143

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(02)01417-6

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