Comparing genome initializations in the asexual Penna model

Abstract

The asexual Penna model, a Monte Carlo method on biological aging, has been implemented with varying population initialization methods by different authors. These methods implicitly assume that differing initializations lead to equivalent final states. However, considering these initialization methods represent distinct initial conditions, this assumption may not universally hold. This study examines two initialization methods: initialization with purely healthy genomes, and initialization with genomes containing randomly distributed harmful genes. The two initialization methods were compared under two conditions: the semelparous case and the iteroparous case. Penna model simulations were run until a steady state was achieved. The results indicate no significant differences between the initialization methods in the semelparous case. However, a small but consistent difference in genetic diversity was observed in the iteroparous case. More research is needed to assess the impact this small difference has.