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Mutation protection opinion

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jknilinux:
1:
They were not in any particular order.

Anyway, here's some evidence that no.1 is right, from a 5-minute search on wikipedia:

DNA evolution
Hypermutation

You could almost definitely find more on google.

2:
I consider that a good thing in IM. We need a diverse environment if we want speciation.

3:
How is cond-start-stop inserted? Are each of the three inserted in a random spot, or is one of the three inserted randomly? In either case, it doesn't sound like it'll do much, evolutionarily speaking. It'll just break something. But, making it a single instruction circumvents this- insert it anywhere, and it works instantly.

shvarz:
1: There's nothing there about protection from mutation. The hypermutation process exists only in higher vertebrates in cells of immune system. It's a nice example, but it's rather an exception than the rule. I don't see this as evidence for immediate implementation of this feature. I stand by my original statement - in general cells have no mechanisms to protect certain areas from mutation.

2. To some extent - yes, but it really gets out of hand. With a small number of people running IM, this is like having a bucket of water and a frying pan. Anything that can live in one, cannot live in the other, so might as well disconnect from IM - nothing is being transferred.

3. They can be inserted one by one randomly.

Numsgil:
Agreeing with shvarz, remember that there are such things as miscaraiges, and they can be caused by severe mutations that cause missing metabolic pathways, or whatever.  For instance, down syndrome is caused by an extra 21st chromosome.  There are no children with an extra #1 chromosome (the largest), not because it's impossible to produce an embryo with it, but because they die before they're born, very early in the pregnancy.  Severe mutations self destruct before we can observe them.

Generally, from what I know, cells can control their global mutation rate to a degree.  There is evidence of this.  But specific control of specific DNA sequences is not commonplace.  There is some modern argument that some sequences are more or less mutation prone than others (you can code the same amino acid in more than one way often times), which is something Eric's brought up.

jknilinux:
1:
Dang- you're right. That wikipage had nothing to do with mutation protection. I know it used to, but they changed it, I guess. Sorry about that.
Anyway, here's an example off the top of my head: amino acids can be coded for in way more ways than necessary. In some cases, the amino acid will be coded for by DNA made from mostly As & Ts, while in other cases, the amino acid can be coded for using mostly Gs and Cs. Guanine and cytosine have 3 hydrogen bonds connecting them, while Adenine and thymine only have two. This makes G-C base pairs less susceptible to mutations and, sure enough, bacteria that dry out regularly and need to halt their metabolism have a far larger amount of Guanine and Cytosine in their DNA, to protect it from mutations, than their less hardy cousins.

Here's an article from science magazine on bacteria with fluctuating mutation rates.

And here is a wiki page that does discuss changes in mutation rates.

2:
That's why, IMO, there should be more than one internet mode. One for F1 settings, one for F2, one for IB, etc...
Even better would be to make the program automatically connect you to whoever has the most similar settings. I still think that's better than treating everyone like a newb.

3:
But how are they inserted?

Numsgil-
I agree, this isn't usually the case with eukaryotes, like us. But with bacteria, like those simulated in DB, varying mutation rates is not uncommon.

ikke:
I feel that in this discussion two things are mixed: organism mutation rate and mutation protection of specific genomes within an organism. Without having the expertise to add to the discussion I think the two should be separated, if for no ohter reason than that overall mutation speed is already implemented.

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