Abstract
Neo-Darwinist concepts of evolution are being questioned by new approaches, and one of these sources of debate is the epigenetic theory. Epigenetics focus the relation between phenotypes and their environment, studying how this relation contributes for the regulation of the genetic expression, while producing inheritable traits. In this work, an approach for designing epigenetic concepts, including regulation and inheritance, in an Artificial Life model are presented. The model makes use of a dynamic environment, which influences these epigenetic actions. It is possible to perceive evolutionary differences regarding the epigenetic phenomena, both at individual and population levels, as the epigenetic agents achieve a regulatory state and adapt to dynamic environments. The persistence of acquired traits is also observable in the experiments, despite the absence of the signal that induces those same traits.
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Sousa, J.A.B., Costa, E. (2011). Designing an Epigenetic Approach in Artificial Life: The EpiAL Model. In: Filipe, J., Fred, A., Sharp, B. (eds) Agents and Artificial Intelligence. ICAART 2010. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 129. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19890-8_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19890-8_6
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