Download Feb 12, 2007

Feb 12, 2007. 12:20-1:10 Billings North Lounge.
Theory and Strategy of Coding in Microbe Genomes: Case Studies in Informational
Evolutionary Theory.
David C. Krakauer, Santa Fe Institute
Darwin's theory of evolution was developed without reference to the microscopic world
or the genetic underpinnings of variation. Modern evolutionary theory has benefited
from the fact that microbes evolve over the course of days and years permitting an exact
description of changing genetic structure. Unlike Darwinian evolution that stresses
morphological properties, modern evolution stresses informational properties and their
relation to form. I shall present four concepts which I argue will be central to an
extended, twenty first century evolutionary theory: robustness, evolvability, redundancy
and compression. These are also key concepts in engineering and computer science. The
application of these concepts will be explored in relation to the structure and function of
microbial genomes.
David Krakauer is currently a Professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. He
received a B.Sc. in Biology and an M.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics from the
University of London, and his PhD in Evolutionary Theory from the University of
Oxford. David remained in Oxford as a Wellcome Research fellow and lecturer at
Pembroke College. In 1999 he moved to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as
a long-term member, and was external Professor of evolutionary theory at Princeton
University. In 2002 he moved to the Santa Fe Institute. David’ work is concerned largely
with the evolutionary history of information processing mechanisms in biology, with an
emphasis on information transmission, signaling dynamics and their role in promoting
novel, higher level structures, such as language. He is author of over 70 scientific
publications, coauthor of the forthcoming book the Nature of Information with Princeton
University Press, and co-editor a new book on Transitions between Non-Living and
Living Matter, to be published by MIT press 2007.