Symmetry Breaking and Adaptation: Evidence from a Toy Model of a Virus

J. Mora; C. Stephens; H. Waelbroeck

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arXiv · adap-org/9708004

Symmetry Breaking and Adaptation: Evidence from a Toy Model of a Virus

J. Mora·C. Stephens·H. Waelbroeck

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Abstract

We argue that the phenomenon of symmetry breaking in genetics can enhance the adaptability of a species to changes in the environment. In the case of a virus, the claim is that the codon bias in the neutralization epitope improves the virus' ability to generate mutants that evade the induced immune response. We support our claim with a simple ``toy model'' of a viral epitope evolving in competition with the immune system. The effective selective advantage of a higher mutability leads to a dominance of codons that favour non-synonymous mutations. The results in this paper suggest the possibility of emergence of an algorithmic language in more complicated systems.

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J. Mora, C. Stephens, H. Waelbroeck. 1997-08-06. Symmetry Breaking and Adaptation: Evidence from a Toy Model of a Virus. https://arxiv.org/abs/adap-org/9708004

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