A minimum on the mean number of steps taken in adaptive walks |
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Authors: | Orr H Allen |
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Institution: | Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, U.S.A. aorr@mail.rochester.edu |
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Abstract: | I consider the adaptation of a DNA sequence when mutant fitnesses are drawn randomly from a probability distribution. I focus on "gradient" adaptation in which the population jumps to the best mutant sequence available at each substitution. Given a random starting point, I derive the distribution of the number of substitutions that occur during adaptive walks to a locally optimal sequence. I show that the mean walk length is a constant:L = e-1, where e approximately 2.72. I argue that this result represents a limit on what is possible under any form of adaptation. No adaptive algorithm on any fitness landscape can arrive at a local optimum in fewer than a mean of L = e-1 steps when starting from a random sequence. Put differently, evolution must try out at least e wild-type sequences during an average bout of adaptation. |
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Keywords: | Mutation landscape Fitness landscape Quasispecies Error catastrophe DNA repair |
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