Entropy Driven Evolution: Why DNA Is Coded in Four Bases and Why Reproduction Takes Two Sexes

Time

-

Locations

E1 106


Speaker

Bo Deng
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
http://www.math.unl.edu/~bdeng1/



Description

If we conceptually think DNA replication as a communication channel when DNA bases are replicated one at a time along the single strands of mother DNA, we can show that the maximal information rate in entropy per time is to have 2 pairs of complementary bases instead of 1 or 3 or more pairs. We can also demonstrate similarly that if we view the mixing of germ cell chromosomes for sexual reproduction as an informational exchange, then the information rate is maximal if only two rather than 3 or more sexes are involved. Both examples support the hypothesis that life is driven to maximize biodiversity against constraints in time and energy across all biological scales.

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