A Growth Model for Dna Evolution (submitted to Nature)

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple DNA evolution model demonstrating long-range correlations in small to medium chains, which diminish in large chains due to mutations, highlighting the role of mutations in DNA sequence correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a new, simple model for DNA evolution and analyzes its fractal properties across different chain sizes, revealing the impact of mutations on correlations.

Findings

Long-range correlations observed in small and medium chains.

Correlations diminish in very large chains due to mutations.

Mutations are key to the apparent long-range correlations.

Abstract

We introduce a simple model for DNA evolution. Using the method of Peng et al.$^1$, we investigate the fractal properties of the system. For small chains and chains of intermediate size we find a fractal exponent that indicates the existence of long-range correlations, as in real DNA sequences. However, when very large chains are studied the fractal exponent asymptotically converge to the value of a random sequence. We verify that the mutations are responsible for the apparent existence of long-range correlations.