Evolution vs the number of gene copies per primitive cell

Summary

Computer simulations are presented of the rate at which an advantageous mutant would displace the prototype in a replicating system without an accurate segregation mechanism. If the number of gene copies in the system is indefinitely large, Darwinian evolution is essentially stopped because there is no coupling of phenotype with genotype, i.e., there is no growth advantage to the advantageous gene relative to the prototype and therefore no “survival of the fittest.” The inhibition of evolution due to a number of gene copies<100 would have been not insurmountable. Although the presence of multiple copies would have allowed replacement by an advantageous mutant, it provided a way for the primitive cell to conserve less immediately useful genes that could evolve into different or more effective genes. This possibility was lost as accurate segregation mechanisms evolved and cells with few copies of each gene, such as modern procaryotes, arose.