Genomes: at the edge of chaos with maximum information capacity

We propose an order index, phi, which quantifies the notion of ``life at the edge of chaos'' when applied to genome sequences. It maps genomes to a number from 0 (random and of infinite length) to 1 (fully ordered) and applies regardless of sequence length. The 786 complete genomic sequenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Sing-Guan Kong, Hong-Da, Chen, Wen-Lang, Fan, Wigger, Jan, Torda, Andrew, Lee, H C
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 12.08.2007
Subjects
Gene sequencing
Genomes
Organizational change
Quantitative Biology - Genomics
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Summary:We propose an order index, phi, which quantifies the notion of ``life at the edge of chaos'' when applied to genome sequences. It maps genomes to a number from 0 (random and of infinite length) to 1 (fully ordered) and applies regardless of sequence length. The 786 complete genomic sequences in GenBank were found to have phi values in a very narrow range, 0.037+/-0.027. We show this implies that genomes are halfway towards being completely random, namely, at the edge of chaos. We argue that this narrow range represents the neighborhood of a fixed-point in the space of sequences, and genomes are driven there by the dynamics of a robust, predominantly neutral evolution process.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0708.1598