title: Maximum, minimum, and optimal mutation rates in dynamic environments.
abstract: We analyze the dynamics of the parallel mutation-selection quasispecies model with a changing environment. For an environment with the sharp-peak fitness function in which the most fit sequence changes by k spin flips every period T , we find analytical expressions for the minimum and maximum mutation rates for which a quasispecies can survive, valid in the limit of large sequence size. We find an asymptotic solution in which the quasispecies population changes periodically according to the periodic environmental change. In this state we compute the mutation rate that gives the optimal mean fitness over a period. We find that the optimal mutation rate per genome, k/T , is independent of genome size, a relationship which is observed across broad groups of real organisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do 420-743, Korea.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ancliff
authors.forename: Jeong-Man
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA