Simulating the Interaction of Genotype Phenotype Maps and Mutation Rates in Evolution

Abstract

In this project I have set up a framework under which several apparently disparate concepts in evolutionary biology can be analysed in a unified manner. Based on this, I implemented a software model to simulate the effects and interactions of these phenomena. Purely by changing the parameters fed into this model, it is possible to simulate phenomena like the evolution of genotype phenotype maps (GPM), epigenetics, cultural inheritance, maternal effects etc. I used this software to model the interactions of mutation rates and selection under various GP-map topographies. I find that, in line with existing theoretical results, standing genetic diversity was positively correlated with lower fitness differentials and higher mutation rates. The probability of succeeding to reach the global optimum of a rugged landscape increased with mutation rate and decreased with ruggedness. I also show that, in response to randomly changing environments, contrary to intuitive reasoning, faster fluctuations may result in reduced selection for mutation rates. This simulation framework, to the best of my knowledge, is the first attempt to integrate the various strands of the ongoing Extended Evolutionary Synthesis in one common theoretical framework.