dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSelective advantage for multicellular replicative strategies: A two-cell example
| Authors | Emmanuel Tannenbaum |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0508014 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0508014 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevE.73.010904 |
Abstract
This paper develops a quasispecies model where cells can adopt a two-cell survival strategy. Within this strategy, pairs of cells join together, at which point one of the cells sacrifices its own replicative ability for the sake of the other cell. We develop a simplified model for the evolutionary dynamics of this process, allowing us to solve for the steady-state using standard approaches from quasispecies theory. We find that our model exhibits two distinct regimes of behavior: At low concentrations of limiting resource, the two-cell strategy outcompetes the single-cell survival strategy, while at high concentrations of limiting resource, the single-cell survival strategy dominates. Associated with the two solution regimes of our model is a localization to delocalization transition over the portion of the genome coding for the multicell strategy, analogous to the error catastrophe in standard quasispecies models. The existence of such a transition indicates that multicellularity can emerge because natural selection does not act on specific cells, but rather on replicative strategies. Within this framework, individual cells become the means by which replicative strategies are propagated. Such a framework is therefore consistent with the concept that natural selection does not act on individuals, but rather on populations.
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"abstract": "This paper develops a quasispecies model where cells can adopt a two-cell\nsurvival strategy. Within this strategy, pairs of cells join together, at which\npoint one of the cells sacrifices its own replicative ability for the sake of\nthe other cell. We develop a simplified model for the evolutionary dynamics of\nthis process, allowing us to solve for the steady-state using standard\napproaches from quasispecies theory. We find that our model exhibits two\ndistinct regimes of behavior: At low concentrations of limiting resource, the\ntwo-cell strategy outcompetes the single-cell survival strategy, while at high\nconcentrations of limiting resource, the single-cell survival strategy\ndominates. Associated with the two solution regimes of our model is a\nlocalization to delocalization transition over the portion of the genome coding\nfor the multicell strategy, analogous to the error catastrophe in standard\nquasispecies models. The existence of such a transition indicates that\nmulticellularity can emerge because natural selection does not act on specific\ncells, but rather on replicative strategies. Within this framework, individual\ncells become the means by which replicative strategies are propagated. Such a\nframework is therefore consistent with the concept that natural selection does\nnot act on individuals, but rather on populations.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0508014",
"authors": [
"Emmanuel Tannenbaum"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.PE",
"q-bio.CB"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevE.73.010904",
"title": "Selective advantage for multicellular replicative strategies: A two-cell example",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0508014"
},
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