Scientists Find 'Pure Math' , At Work in Evolutionary Genetics.
ScienceAlert reports that researchers have uncovered
one of the purest forms of math, number theory, at
work in the mechanisms governing molecular evolution.
Number theory includes multiplication,
subtraction, division and addition of
integers and their negative counterparts. .
One example would be the Fibonacci sequence,
found throughout nature, where each number in the
sequence is the sum of the two numbers preceeding it.
The beauty of number theory lies not
only in the abstract relationships it
uncovers between integers, but also
in the deep mathematical structures
it illuminates in our natural world, Ard Louis, Senior author and mathematician
at Oxford University, via ScienceAlert.
The beauty of number theory lies not
only in the abstract relationships it
uncovers between integers, but also
in the deep mathematical structures
it illuminates in our natural world, Ard Louis, Senior author and mathematician
at Oxford University, via ScienceAlert.
The beauty of number theory lies not
only in the abstract relationships it
uncovers between integers, but also
in the deep mathematical structures
it illuminates in our natural world, Ard Louis, Senior author and mathematician
at Oxford University, via ScienceAlert.
The team ran numerical simulations to determine
the upper bounds of mutational robustness,
a process which generates genetic diversity. .
We have known for some time that many
biological systems exhibit remarkably
high phenotype robustness, without
which evolution would not be possible.
But we didn't know what the absolute
maximal robustness possible would
be, or if there even was a maximum, Ard Louis, Senior author and mathematician
at Oxford University, via ScienceAlert.
ScienceAlert reports that the team found that
maximum robustness follows a self-repeating
fractal pattern called a Blancmange curve.
The maximum was proportional
to the sum-of-digits fraction,
a basic concept of number theory.
We found clear evidence in the mapping
from sequences to RNA secondary
structures that nature in some cases
achieves the exact maximum robustness
bound. It's as if biology knows about
the fractal sums-of-digits function, Vaibhav Mohanty, Harvard Medical School, via ScienceAlert.
We found clear evidence in the mapping
from sequences to RNA secondary
structures that nature in some cases
achieves the exact maximum robustness
bound. It's as if biology knows about
the fractal sums-of-digits function, Vaibhav Mohanty, Harvard Medical School, via ScienceAlert.
The team's findings were published in the
'Journal of The Royal Society Interface.'
