The arrival of the frequent: how bias in genotype-phenotype maps can steer populations to local optima.

ABSTRACT: Genotype-phenotype (GP) maps specify how the random mutations that change genotypes generate variation by altering phenotypes, which, in turn, can trigger selection. Many GP maps share the following general properties: 1) The total number of genotypes N(G) is much larger than the number of selectable phenotypes; 2) Neutral exploration changes the variation that is accessible to the population; 3) The distribution of phenotype frequencies F(p)=N(p)/N(G), with N(p) the number of genotypes mapping onto phenotype p, is highly biased: the majority of genotypes map to only a small minority of the phenotypes. Here we explore how these properties affect the evolutionary dynamics of haploid Wright-Fisher models that are coupled to a random GP map or to a more complex RNA sequence to secondary struc

SUBMITTER: Schaper S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3914804 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature