dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDamage segregation at fissioning may increase growth rates: A superprocess model
| Authors | Steven N. Evans, David Steinsaltz |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0608008 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0608008 |
Abstract
A fissioning organism may purge unrepairable damage by bequeathing it preferentially to one of its daughters. Using the mathematical formalism of superprocesses, we propose a flexible class of analytically tractable models that allow quite general effects of damage on death rates and splitting rates and similarly general damage segregation mechanisms. We show that, in a suitable regime, the effects of randomness in damage segregation at fissioning are indistinguishable from those of randomness in the mechanism of damage accumulation during the organism's lifetime. Moreover, the optimal population growth is achieved for a particular finite, non-zero level of combined randomness from these two sources. In particular, when damage accumulates deterministically, optimal population growth is achieved by a moderately unequal division of damage between the daughters. Too little or too much division is sub-optimal. Connections are drawn both to recent experimental results on inheritance of damage in protozoans, to theories of the evolution of aging, and to models of resource division between siblings.
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"abstract": "A fissioning organism may purge unrepairable damage by bequeathing it\npreferentially to one of its daughters. Using the mathematical formalism of\nsuperprocesses, we propose a flexible class of analytically tractable models\nthat allow quite general effects of damage on death rates and splitting rates\nand similarly general damage segregation mechanisms. We show that, in a\nsuitable regime, the effects of randomness in damage segregation at fissioning\nare indistinguishable from those of randomness in the mechanism of damage\naccumulation during the organism\u0027s lifetime. Moreover, the optimal population\ngrowth is achieved for a particular finite, non-zero level of combined\nrandomness from these two sources. In particular, when damage accumulates\ndeterministically, optimal population growth is achieved by a moderately\nunequal division of damage between the daughters. Too little or too much\ndivision is sub-optimal. Connections are drawn both to recent experimental\nresults on inheritance of damage in protozoans, to theories of the evolution of\naging, and to models of resource division between siblings.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0608008",
"authors": [
"Steven N. Evans",
"David Steinsaltz"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.PE",
"math.PR"
],
"title": "Damage segregation at fissioning may increase growth rates: A superprocess model",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0608008"
},
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"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
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