Drake's Rule as a Consequence of Approaching Channel Capacity
arXiv:1306.4117 · doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1235-6
Abstract
How mutations accumulate in genomes is the central question of molecular evolution theories, however our understanding of this process is far from complete. Drake's rule is a notoriously universal property of genomes from microbes to mammals - the number of (functional) mutations per-genome per-generation is approximately constant within a phylum, despite orders of magnitude differences in genome sizes and diverse populations properties. So far there is no concise explanation for this phenomenon. A formal model of storage of genetic information suggests that a genome of any species operates near its maximum informational storage capacity, and the mutation rate is near its upper limit, providing a simple explanation for the rule with minimal assumptions.
Keywords: Drake's rule, information theory, neutral theory