Non-adaptive origins of evolutionary innovations increase network complexity in interacting digital organisms.

ABSTRACT: The origin of evolutionary innovations is a central problem in evolutionary biology. To what extent such innovations have adaptive or non-adaptive origins is hard to assess in real organisms. This limitation, however, can be overcome using digital organisms, i.e. self-replicating computer programs that mutate, evolve and coevolve within a user-defined computational environment. Here, we quantify the role of the non-adaptive origins of host resistance traits in determining the evolution of ecological interactions among host and parasite digital organisms. We find that host resistance traits arising spontaneously as exaptations increase the complexity of antagonistic host-parasite networks. Specifically, they lead to higher host phenotypic diversification, a larger number of ecological inter

SUBMITTER: Fortuna MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5665817 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature