A simple model for the evolution of molecular codes driven by the interplay of accuracy, diversity and cost

Abstract

Molecular codes translate information written in one type of molecules into another molecular language. We introduce a simple model that treats molecular codes as noisy information channels. An optimal code is a channel that conveys information accurately and efficiently while keeping down the impact of errors. The equipoise of the three conflicting needs, for minimal error-load, minimal cost of resources and maximal diversity of vocabulary, defines the fitness of the code. The model suggests a mechanism for the emergence of a code when evolution varies the parameters that control this equipoise and the mapping between the two molecular languages becomes non-random. This mechanism is demonstrated by a simple toy model that is formally equivalent to a mean-field Ising magnet.

Keywords: molecular codes, rate-distortion theory, biological information channels, stochastic maps, genetic code, genetic networks

References in corpus (4)

• Coding limits on the number of transcription factors
• A model for the emergence of the genetic code as a transition in a noisy information channel
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Cited by in corpus (4)

• A colorful origin for the genetic code: Information theory, statistical mechanics and the emergence of molecular codes
• Casting Polymer Nets to Optimize Noisy Molecular Codes
• Optimal Design of a Molecular Recognizer: Molecular Recognition as a Bayesian Signal Detection Problem
• The physical language of molecular codes: A rate-distortion approach to the evolution and emergence of biological codes