270155 VO Dynamics of evolutionary processes (2014S)

Darwin’s natural selection is commonly formulated in qualitative narrative manner. It is straightforward, however, to cast the principle into a quantitative mathematical model. The most common basis of modeling in science is using differential equations, but other approaches are available, which use master equations or other stochastic tools, direct computer simulations using cellular automata or strategies based on competitive CPU-memory acquisition. In the course we shall be concerned with simple systems capable of evolution: (i) molecules in cell-free replication assays and applications to evolutionary biotechnology, (ii) viroids and viruses in vitro and in the host organism, and (iii) bacteria under controlled growth conditions. A comparison will be made between the application of chemical kinetics and population genetics.