| Abstract: | In order to understand the interplay among information, genetic instructions, and phenotypic variations, self‐reproducers discovered in two‐dimensional cellular automata are considered as proto‐organisms, which undergo to mutations as they were in a real environmental situation. We realized a computational model through which we have been able to discover the genetic map of the self‐reproducers and the networks they use. Identifying in these maps sets of different functional genes, we found that mutations in the genetic sequences could affect both external shapes and behavior of the self‐reproducers, thus realizing different life‐like strategies in the evolution process. The results highlight that some strategies evolution uses in selecting organisms that are fitting with changing environmental situations maintain the self‐reproducing function, whereas other variations create new self‐reproducers. These self‐reproducers in turn realize different genetic networks, which can be very different from the basic ancestors pools. The mutations that are disruptive bring self‐reproducers to disappear, while other proto‐organisms are generated. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 9: 38–55, 2004 |
