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Information-theoretic model of evolution over protein communication channel
Liuling Gong1, Nidhal Bouaynaya, Dan Schonfeld
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, 851 S. Morgan Street, Chicago, IL 60607-7053, USA. lgong4@uic.edu
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
|November 13, 2010
Summary
Evolution is modeled as information transmission over a protein channel. Analyzing channel capacity and rate distortion for Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes reveals insights into genome evolution dynamics driven by mutation and unequal crossing over.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Information theory
- Genomics
Background:
- Biological evolution involves information transfer across generations.
- Protein communication channels and their information-theoretic properties are key to understanding evolutionary dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a communication model for evolution.
- To investigate the information-theoretic bounds of evolutionary processes.
- To analyze the dynamics of genome sequence evolution.
Main Methods:
- Modeling evolution as information retransmission over a protein channel.
- Computing channel capacity and rate distortion functions for Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes.
- Analyzing the tradeoff between transmission rate and distortion.
Main Results:
- Biological fidelity in protein communication channels does not reach theoretical Shannon optimal distortion.
- The relationship between channel capacity and rate distortion varies across the three domains of life.
- Insights into evolutionary dynamics are gained from comparing these information-theoretic measures.
Conclusions:
- The proposed communication model provides a framework for understanding genome evolution.
- Mutations and unequal crossovers are identified as major evolutionary driving forces.
- Information-theoretic analysis offers a novel perspective on the dynamics of life's evolution.
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