POPULATION-GENETICS APPROACH TO THE QUASI-SPECIES MODEL

A population genetics formulation of Eigen's molecular quasispecies mo del [Naturwissenchaften 58, 465 (1971)] is proposed and several simple replication landscapes are investigated analytically. Our results sho w a remarkable similarity to those obtained with the original kinetics formulation of the quasispecies model. However, due to the simplicity of our approach, the space of the parameters that define the model ca n be thoroughly explored. In particular, for the single-sharp-peak lan dscape our analysis yields some interesting predictions such as the ex istence of a maximum peak height and a minimum molecule length for the onset of the error threshold transition.