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Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
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Evolutionary construction by staying together and coming together.

Corina E Tarnita1, Clifford H Taubes, Martin A Nowak

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. ctarnita@princeton.edu

Journal of Theoretical Biology
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Evolutionary theory explains increasing biological complexity through two key processes:

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Theoretical biology
  • Mathematical modeling

Background:

  • Life's evolution shows increasing size and complexity.
  • Standard evolutionary dynamics equations focus on similar organisms at one organizational level.
  • A gap exists in understanding how natural selection drives hierarchical organization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To outline a mathematical theory for constructive evolution.
  • To explore how natural selection generates higher levels of biological organization.
  • To differentiate evolutionary challenges of 'staying together' and 'coming together'.

Main Methods:

  • Distinguishing and defining two fundamental evolutionary operations: 'staying together' and 'coming together'.
  • Analyzing developmental and game-theoretic aspects of these operations.
  • Applying models to diverse biological systems from protocells to animal societies.

Main Results:

  • 'Staying together' involves individuals forming larger units post-reproduction, potentially leading to specialization.
  • 'Coming together' involves independent units aggregating, enabling creative combinations of different properties.
  • These operations face distinct evolutionary problems: 'staying together' requires an error threshold, while 'coming together' needs mechanisms for cooperation evolution.

Conclusions:

  • The distinction between 'staying together' and 'coming together' is crucial for understanding evolution across all biological levels.
  • This framework clarifies evolutionary challenges in cooperation and defection.
  • The theory provides insights into the evolution of protocells, eukaryotes, multicellularity, and animal societies.