Evolution and Complexity of Compatibility Systems
Carolyn Otteson · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 2009
This thesis proposes the development of an abstract model of the evolution of a compatibility system and demonstrates the feasibility of this model in the context of a lab report of how an idealized but viable model of such a self-recognition system was devised.The study analyzes the results for average population fitness over 10 generations produced by 4 different pairs of values for the parameters, degree of inbreeding and homozygote fitness.It demonstrates that the model works and that the self-recognition mechanism is most responsive when the threat to survival of the population is greatest.Without the compatibility system, the proportion of homozygotes grows with inbreeding, and average population fitness plummets accordingly.The compatibility system reverses this trend.As inbreeding rises, more of these AA/aa homozygotes are eliminated through natural selection over time such that the increase in heterozygosity accelerates.Since the heterozygotes are the fittest among the genotypes, the decline in population fitness decelerates over time proportionate to the degree of inbreeding and the fitness of the homozygotes.This process manifests itself as nature responding to the level of emergency.