Intrinsic noise and the design of the genetic machinery.
Darwinian theory envisages 'selection pressure' as a stress imposed on the genotype by the environment. However, noise in the replicative and translational mechanisms in itself imposes a significant 'pressure' on the adaptive fitness of the organism. We propose that the biosphere has been shaped by both extrinsic (environmental) and intrinsic (noise-generated) factors. Because noise has been a remorseless and ever-present background to the evolutionary process, adaptations to this intrinsic pressure include not only a variety of familiar genetic mechanisms but also many anatomical and life-style characteristics that focus on the transmission of information between generations.
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004261:DNA Replication; D005796:Genes; D005815:Genetic Code; D006801:Humans; D008967:Molecular Biology; D009154:Mutation