Genome parameters as information to forecast emergent developmental behaviors

Abstract

In this paper we measure genomic properties in EvoDevo systems, to predict emergent phenotypic characteristic of artificial organisms. We describe and compare three parameters calculated out of the composition of the genome, to forecast the emergent behavior and structural properties of the developed organisms. The parameters are each calculated by including different genomic information. The genotypic information explored are: purely regulatory output, regulatory input and relative output considered independently and an overall parameter calculated out of genetic dependency properties. The goal of this work is to gain more knowledge on the relation between genotypes and the behavior of emergent phenotypes. Such knowledge will give information on genetic composition in relation to artificial developmental organisms, providing guidelines for construction of EvoDevo systems. A minimalistic developmental system based on Cellular Automata is chosen in the experimental work. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.