Reproduction

Larry T. Chen, larryc@ics.uci.edu

Introduction

Reproductive Mechanisms in Biology

Replication
Gene replication, crossing-over

Asexual Reproduction/Cloning
Green flies, elm trees

Sexual Reproduction
    Diversity
    Pairing strongest partners
    Maximizing chances that genes will survive? But sexual reproduction only permits 50% of the parents genes to survive.
    Allowing favorable genes to be collected in one individual.

Characteristics of Reproduction

Survival Until Reproduction Occurs
Organisms die of old age because of copying errors
Medawar theory: Organisms die of old age because of late-acting lethal and semi-lethal genes.
Genes are selected because of their fitness in the environment of other genes.

Computational Mechanisms of Reproduction

Replication
Recombination
Used in genetic algorithms