An interplay of resource availability, population size and mutation rate potentiates the evolution of metabolic signaling

BMC Evolutionary Biology

article

Kumawat, Bhaskar¹  Bhat, Ramray¹ 

[1] Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science

关键词: Evolution;    Signaling;    Artificial life;    Tumorigenesis;    Development;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-021-01782-0

学科分类：护理学

来源: BioMed Central

【 摘 要 】

Asexually reproducing populations of single cells evolve through mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift. Environmental conditions in which the evolution takes place define the emergent fitness landscapes. In this work, we used Avida—a digital evolution framework—to uncover a hitherto unexplored interaction between mutation rates, population size, and the relative abundance of metabolizable resources, and its effect on evolutionary outcomes in small populations of digital organisms. Over each simulation, the population evolved to one of several states, each associated with a single dominant phenotype with its associated fitness and genotype. For a low mutation rate, acquisition of fitness by organisms was accompanied with, and dependent on, an increase in rate of genomic replication. At an increased mutation rate, phenotypes with high fitness values were similarly achieved through enhanced genome replication rates. In addition, we also observed the frequent emergence of suboptimal fitness phenotype, wherein neighboring organisms signaled to each other information relevant to performing metabolic tasks. This metabolic signaling was vital to fitness acquisition and was correlated with greater genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity in the population. The frequency of appearance of signaling populations increased with population size and with resource abundance. Our results reveal a minimal set of environment–genotype interactions that lead to the emergence of metabolic signaling within evolving populations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC0