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Gaps can appear if there are (1) missing data or (2) a big change such as a transposition or elision event. Neither are the case for our coronavirus data. For
by rleigh 5y ago
Gaps can appear if there are (1) missing data or (2) a big change such as a transposition or elision event. Neither are the case for our coronavirus data. For (1) we have a good random sampling of the population as a whole so it is exceedingly unlikely we would not see intermediate changes and for (2) the overall structure has not changed dramatically--we are looking at the accumulation of point mutations over the course of 18 months. So while gaps can and do occur, we would not expect this to occur naturally in the situation we are observing today with coronavirus.
- epgui 5y agoGaps also appear because evolution is not a smooth process, and once in a while a large number of mutations are selected for. We see the same type of pattern even in vitro. Moreover, mutations are not always well described by gaussian processes: the rate of mutation can be seen as having a fat tailed distribution.
- TeeMassive 5y agoThat's not the way it works. Mutations has to be incremental because most mutations are not viable or doesn't provide any reproductive gain. Having multiple functional mutations all at once happening in a very short amount of time and being naturally selected in big enough number of infections is very very improbable. > mutations are not always well described by gaussian processes: the rate of mutation can be seen as having a fat tailed distribution I'm sorry if I have to be blunt, but you have no idea of what you are talking about.
- epgui 5y agoI’m a biochemist.