title: Generalized topological spaces in evolutionary theory and combinatorial chemistry.
abstract: The search spaces in combinatorial chemistry as well as the sequence spaces underlying (molecular) evolution are conventionally thought of as graphs. Recombination, however, implies a nongraphical structure of the combinatorial search spaces. These structures, and their implications for search process itself, are heretofore not well understood in general. In this contribution we review a very general formalism from point set topology and discuss its application to combinatorial search spaces, fitness landscapes, evolutionary trajectories, and artificial chemistries.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Chemie und Molekulare Strukturbiologie Universität, Wien, Vienna, Austria. baer@tbi.univie.ac.at
authors.forename: Bärbel M R
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Stadler
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D012313:RNA