Abstract
We investigate the evolutionary processes behind the development and optimization of multiple threads of execution in digital organisms using the avida platform, a software package that implements Darwinian evolution on populations of self-replicating computer programs. The system is seeded with a linearly executed ancestor capable only of reproducing its own genome, whereas its underlying language has the capacity for multiple threads of execution (i.e., simultaneous expression of sections of the genome.) We witness the evolution to multithreaded organisms and track the development of distinct expression patterns. Additionally, we examine both the evolvability of multithreaded organisms and the level of thread differentiation as a function of environmental complexity, and find that differentiation is more pronounced in complex environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adami C, Introduction to Artificial Life (Telos Springer-Verlag, New York, 1998).
Keese P and Gibbs A, Origins of genes: “Big bang” or continuous creation?, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 89: 9489–9493 (1992).
Lenski RE and Travisano M, Dynamics of adaptation and diversification: A 10,000 generation experiment with bacterial populations, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 91: 6808–6814 (1994)
Miyata T and Yasunaga T, Evolution of overlapping genes, Nature 272: 532 (1978).
Ofria C, Brown CT, and Adami C, The Avida User’s Manual, in [1] 297–350 (1998).
Ofria C and Adami C, Evolution of genetic organization in digital organisms, Proc. of DIMACS Workshop on Evolution as Computation, Jan 11–12, Princeton University, Landweber L and Winfree E, eds. (Springer-Verlag, NY, 1999).
Ray TS, An approach to the synthesis of life, in Proc. of Artificial Life II, Langton CG, Taylor C, Farmer JD, and Rasmussen S, Eds. (Addison Wesley, Redwood City, CA, 1992), p. 371.
Ray TS, A proposal to create a network-wide biodiversity reserve for digital organisms, ATR Technical Report TR-H-133 (1995).
Ray TS and Hart J, Evolution of differentiated multi-threaded digital organisms, in Proc. of Artificial Life VI, Adami C, Belew RK, Kitano H, and Taylor CE, eds. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998), p. 295.
Schneider TD, Stormo GD, Gold L, and Ehrenfeucht A, Information content of binding sites on nucleotide sequences J. Mol. Biol. 188: 415–431 (1986).
Thearling K and Ray TS, Evolving multi-cellular artificial life, in Proc. of Artificial Life IV, Brooks RA and Maes P, Eds. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994), p. 283.
Thearling K and Ray TS, Evolving parallel computation, Complex Systems 10: 229–237 (1997).
Watson JD, et al., Molecular Biology of the Gene (Fourth Ed., Benjamin Cummings, Menlo Park, 1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ofria, C., Adami, C., Collier, T.C., Hsu, G.K. (1999). Evolution of Differentiated Expression Patterns in Digital Organisms. In: Floreano, D., Nicoud, JD., Mondada, F. (eds) Advances in Artificial Life. ECAL 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 1674. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48304-7_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48304-7_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66452-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48304-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive