Search space topology, algorithmic information theory and the emergence of modularity in biological evolution Seminar

Genotype-phenotype (GP) maps specify how random mutations, which change genotypes, generate variation by altering the phenotypes upon which natural selection can act. Solutions to the evolutionary dynamics of Wright-Fisher models coupled to GP maps suggest that the distribution of Darwin's "endless forms most beautiful" may be profoundly influenced by the structure of these maps. Moreover, general results from algorithmic information theory may rationalise trends shared between the GP maps of RNA secondary structure, protein tertiary and quaternary structure and simple models of gene regulation.