Coexistence vs collapse in transposon populations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yom, Aria, Lewis, Nathan E.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Yom, Aria
Lewis, Nathan E.
author_facet Yom, Aria
Lewis, Nathan E.
contents Transposons are small, self-replicating DNA sequences found in every branch of life. Often, one transposon will parasitize another, forming a tiny intracellular ecosystem. In some species these ecosystems thrive, while in others they go extinct, yet little is known about when or why this occurs. Here, we present a stochastic model for these ecosystems and discover a transition from stable coexistence to population collapse when the propensity for a transposon to replicate comes to exceed that of its parasites. Our model also predicts that replication rates should be low in equilibrium, which appears to be true of many transposons in nature.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_11010
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Coexistence vs collapse in transposon populations
Yom, Aria
Lewis, Nathan E.
Populations and Evolution
Transposons are small, self-replicating DNA sequences found in every branch of life. Often, one transposon will parasitize another, forming a tiny intracellular ecosystem. In some species these ecosystems thrive, while in others they go extinct, yet little is known about when or why this occurs. Here, we present a stochastic model for these ecosystems and discover a transition from stable coexistence to population collapse when the propensity for a transposon to replicate comes to exceed that of its parasites. Our model also predicts that replication rates should be low in equilibrium, which appears to be true of many transposons in nature.
title Coexistence vs collapse in transposon populations
topic Populations and Evolution
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.11010