Evolutionary Interplay Between Spontaneous Mutation and Selection: Aleatoric Contributions of Molecular Reaction Mechanisms

Abstract

The concept of evolutionary change does not assume biological evolution to progress into a specific direction. Rather, single steps of change are at least in part aleatoric. In this view evolutionary change may be considered to be of fractal nature. However, in living systems, only a small fraction of mutants, i.e. of individuals having suffered a change in their genetic information, are maintained and propagated. Many other mutants can not compete with the successful ones and with their parents and are thus eliminated. This phenomenon is called selection.