title: Neutral evolution in a biological population as diffusion in phenotype space: reproduction with local mutation but without selection.
abstract: The process of "evolutionary diffusion," i.e., reproduction with local mutation but without selection in a biological population, resembles standard diffusion in many ways. However, evolutionary diffusion allows the formation of localized peaks that undergo drift, even in the infinite population limit. We relate a microscopic evolution model to a stochastic model which we solve fully. This allows us to understand the large population limit, relates evolution to diffusion, and shows that independent local mutations act as a diffusion of interacting particles taking larger steps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK. daniel.lawson@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: Daniel John
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.forename: Henrik Jeldtoft
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jensen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics*; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013269:Stochastic Processes