Randomness versus selection in genome evolution
Abstract
We propose a Markov chain approach for the evolution of a genealogical line of genomes. Our idealized genome has sites and each site can be in state or . At each time step we pick a site at random. If the site is in state we flip it to state 1 with probability or we keep it in state with probability . If the site is in state we flip it to state 0 with probability or we keep it in state with probability . Even when state 1 has a selective advantage (i.e. ) the Markov chain is quite unlikely to approach the most fit allele (i.e. all 1's). In fact, randomness (i.e. which site is picked for a possible mutation) and selection (i.e. the value of ) balance each other out so that the number of 's in the genome converges to a Gaussian distribution centered around .
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2008.04112,
title = {Randomness versus selection in genome evolution},
author = {Rinaldo B. Schinazi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2008.04112},
year = {2020}
}