Symmetry Breaking and Adaptation: Evidence from a Toy Model of a Virus

Mora, J.; Stephens, C.; Waelbroeck, H.

Symmetry Breaking and Adaptation: Evidence from a Toy Model of a Virus

Authors

Mora, J.

Stephens, C.

Waelbroeck, H.

Description

We argue that the phenomenon of symmetry breaking in genetics can enhance the adaptability of a species to changes in the environment. In the case of a virus, the claim is that the codon bias in the neutralization epitope improves the virus' ability to generate mutants that evade the induced immune response. We support our claim with a simple ``toy model'' of a viral epitope evolving in competition with the immune system. The effective selective advantage of a higher mutability leads to a dominance of codons that favour non-synonymous mutations. The results in this paper suggest the possibility of emergence of an algorithmic language in more complicated systems.
TeX source, 10 p., please email hwael or stephens for figures