Category: Pop. Genetics

Summary: Finding how much cross-module reactivation leak is required to destroy seed-bank-supported localization in a modular quasispecies system with high recombination.

Dormant reservoirs can protect structured genetic variation by storing lineages away from the full force of ongoing mutation and recombination. This experiment asks when that protection fails: how much cross-module leakage during reactivation is enough to erase the strong localization that a seed bank can preserve in a modular fitness landscape.

The model constructs a dense symmetric mutation-selection-recombination operator that includes both active and dormant states, then bisects a leak parameter while increasing system size through iterative deepening. By tracking when the dominant mode stops staying concentrated within a module, the experiment identifies a failure threshold for seed-bank buffering rather than merely checking whether the population still grows.

That is scientifically useful because recombination thresholds, modular landscapes, and dormancy are usually studied separately. The experiment turns their interaction into a direct finite-size threshold problem for how dormancy can preserve, or fail to preserve, modular genetic structure.

Method: Dense symmetric eigensolve with iterative deepening and bisection on cross-module reactivation leak in a coupled active-dormant quasispecies operator.

What is measured: Critical leak threshold, localization of the leading mode, recombination-buffered persistence, and bracket width.