SIMULATED STUDY ON THE EVOLUTION OF GENOMIC COMPLEXITY
基因组复杂度进化的仿真研究

One of the main trends of evolution is the development from simplicity to complexity, from lower organism to higher organism. At the same time, certain local degradation and simplification is also broadly existing. In this paper, a simulated evolutionary model that contains gene amplification and deletion was proposed and the evolutionary process of genomic complexity was simulated. The evolution of higher complex structure, the co-existence of varied order of complexity, and the influence of various factors on the evolution of complexity are discussed based on simulation results and theoretical analysis. It is shown that complexity is mainly caused by the adaptation to various complicated environments. Nevertheless, complex genome or structure and function require higher survival and replication cost, which limits the complication to develop infinitely. When the environment changes frequently and drastically, and the cost is not too high, then evolution is apt to produce complexity. When the cost is too high, the trends of complication is always limited. While the environment is relatively stable, degradation and simplification become the main trend.