A Possible Information Entropic Law of Genetic Mutations

Abstract

The current scientific consensus is that genetic mutations are random processes. According to the Darwinian theory of evolution, only natural selection determines which mutations are beneficial in the course of evolution, and there is no deterministic correlation between any parameter and the probability that these mutations will occur. Here, we investigate RNA genetic sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus using Shannon’s information theory, and we report a previously unobserved relationship between the information entropy of genomes and their mutation dynamics. Based on the analysis presented here, we are able to formulate a governing law of genetic mutations, stating that genomes undergo genetic mutations over time driven by a tendency to reduce their overall information entropy, challenging the existing Darwinian paradigm.