FITNESS LANDSCAPE EPISTASIS AND RECOMBINATION

Abstract

Homologous recombination is an important operator in the evolution of biological organisms. However, there is still no clear, generally accepted understanding of why it exists and under what circumstances it is useful. In this paper, we consider its utility in the context of an infinite population haploid model with selection and homologous recombination. We define utility in terms of two metrics — the increase in frequency of fit genotypes, and the increase in average population fitness, relative to those associated with selection only. Explicitly, we explore the full parameter space of a two-locus two-allele system, showing, as a function of the landscape and the initial population, that recombination is beneficial in terms of these metrics in two distinct regimes: a relatively landscape independent regime — the search regime — where recombination aids in the search for a fit genotype that is absent or at low frequency in the population; and the modular regime, where recombination allows for the juxtaposition of fit “modules” or Building Blocks (BBs). Thus, we conclude that the ubiquity and utility of recombination is intimately associated with the existence of modularity and redundancy in biological fitness landscapes.