Category: Pop. Genetics

Summary: Finding the recombination strength that destroys module-localized quasispecies structure on rugged modular landscapes.

Quasispecies theory explains how mutation and selection distribute populations across genotype space, and recombination can reshape that distribution in subtle ways. This experiment asks when recombination becomes strong enough to erase localization on a modular rugged landscape, causing the leading quasispecies state to spread across modules instead of remaining concentrated.

The model uses dense symmetric mutation-selection-recombination operators with a fixed mutation rate near the high-mutation regime. It then bisects the recombination parameter and deepens the system size to estimate a finite-size delocalization threshold.

The scientific payoff is a direct map of when recombination ceases to preserve modular structure. That connects classic error-threshold ideas to more structured, epistatic landscapes that are closer to realistic genotype organization.

Method: Dense symmetric eigensolve with iterative deepening and bisection on recombination strength at fixed mutation.

What is measured: Critical recombination threshold, localization score, peak module mass, leading eigenvalue, fixed mutation level, and bracket width.