Stress-Induced Mutagenesis Can Further Boost Population Success in Static Ecology

2023/03/16 by Kien T. Pham, Pham, Kien T., Duc Minh Nguyen +11
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Social Sciences · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2303.09084

openalex publication_date 2023/03/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We have developed a mathematical model that captures stress-induced mutagenesis, a fundamental aspect of pathogenic and neoplastic evolutionary dynamics, on the fitness landscape with multiple relevant genetic traits as a high-dimensional Euclidean space. In this framework, stress-induced mutagenesis manifests as a heterogeneous diffusion process. We show how increasing mutations, and thus reducing exploitation, in a static ecology with fixed carrying capacity and maximum growth rates, can paradoxically boost population size. Remarkably, this unexpected biophysical phenomenon applies universally to any number of traits.

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