SELFREF
The Evolution of Evolvability: How Natural Selection Shapes Itself
| Coordinatore | COLLEGIUM BUDAPEST EGYESULET
Organization address
address: Szenpharonsag Utca 2 contact info |
| Nazionalità Coordinatore | Hungary [HU] |
| Totale costo | 74˙573 € |
| EC contributo | 74˙573 € |
| Programma | FP7-PEOPLE
Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) |
| Code Call | FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF |
| Funding Scheme | MC-IEF |
| Anno di inizio | 2008 |
| Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) | 2008-04-01 - 2010-03-31 |
Partecipanti
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
COLLEGIUM BUDAPEST EGYESULET
Organization address
address: Szenpharonsag Utca 2 contact info |
HU (BUDAPEST) | coordinator | 0.00 |
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Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)
'The objective of this research is to understand how a metabolic system undergoing natural selection can transform into a template-based system undergoing natural selection. This is an example of an early major transition in evolution. Answering this question will contribute to our understanding of the origin of life, the self-referential nature of embodied evolution, the evolution of evolvability, evolutionary algorithms in engineering, and combinatorial chemistry. We build upon our published papers on natural selection at the extremes: evolution of complex metabolic organizations by natural selection; and the evolution of non-enzymatic template replicators. We build a model that can bridge the gap between our previous two models. A new algebraic representation describes an abstract chemical structure to function map that can represent the behaviour of both autocatalytic metabolities undergoing macromutation, and nucleotide based templates undergoing micromutation. This unified model can then be simulated and explored to understand the transition from limited to unlimited heredity. We test the hypothesis that second-order selection (i.e. selection for variability properties) acting on metabolic organizations enclosed in compartments was the driving force for the evolution of nucleotides. Although the work is a natural and well-defined extension of our previous results, we believe it will produce the first model of a physically embodied evolutionary algorithm capable of open-ended evolution.'
Introduzione (Teaser)
Evolutionary studies have contributed enormously to our understanding of chemistry, biology and the origins of life. There is still uncertainty however over how exactly natural selection - the passing on of traits conducive to survival through our genes - works.
Descrizione progetto (Article)
An EU-funded project set out to investigate how a system undergoing change through natural selection can transform into an entity that relies on a template for replication. The Selfref project built on previous studies that looked at how natural selection shapes itself.
In particular, the project focused on nucleotide molecules - the structural units of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that are the very nuts and bolts of the template-based system for replication of genetic material and production of proteins. But how did these nucleotides arise?
The team applied insights gleaned from evolutionary computation and evolutionary biology to neuronal systems. This led to the neuronal replicator hypothesis (NRH); that humans evolved brains capable of sustaining replication of information. It followed that if neuronal replication is possible, then evolutionary computation can take place in the brain to produce adaptive thought and action.
The team therefore succeeded in producing the first model of a physically embodied evolutionary algorithm capable of open-ended evolution. Although the origin of nucleotides still holds many mysteries, the Selfref project massively exceeded the team's expectations, with significant insights gained and follow-up research generated.
Furthermore, contacts with eminent European partners have been formed, providing the expertise to build on the radically new hypothesis put forward by the team.