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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Measuring Microbial Mutation Rates with the Fluctuation Assay
Published on: November 28, 2019
Funnel landscape and mutational robustness as a result of evolution under thermal noise
Ayaka Sakata1, Koji Hukushima, Kunihiko Kaneko
1Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
Abstract:
Using a statistical-mechanical model of spins, the evolution of phenotype dynamics is studied. Configurations of spins and their interaction J represent the phenotype and genotype, respectively. The fitness for selection of J is given by the equilibrium spin configurations determined by a Hamiltonian with J under thermal noise. The genotype J evolves through mutational changes under selection pressure to raise its fitness value. From Monte Carlo simulations we find that the frustration around the target spins disappears for J evolved under temperature beyond a certain threshold. The evolved Js give the funnel-like dynamics, which is robust to noise and also to mutation.
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