Abstract
We re-examine the evolutionary dynamics of RNA secondary structures under directional selection towards an optimum RNA structure. We find that the punctuated equilibria lead to a very slow approach to the optimum, following on average an inverse power of the evolutionary time. In addition, our study of the trajectories shows that the out-of-equilibrium effects due to the evolutionary process are very weak. In particular, the distribution of genotypes is close to that arising during equilibrium stabilizing selection. As a consequence, the evolutionary dynamics leave almost no measurable out-of-equilibrium trace, only the transition genotypes (close to the border between different periods of stasis) have atypical mutational properties.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1027-1040 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2010 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- RNA neutral networks
- classification description
- evolution
- genotype
- phenotype
- slow relaxation
- systems biology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Computer Science Applications