Aevol is an individual-centered artificial life softwate, which allows to study evolution. Each individual is composed of a circular genome. Along this sequence, promoters and terminator sequences can be recognized and define RNAs. In each RNAs, there can be proteins, which are delimited by START and STOP codons. The proteins are mathematically translated to define triangles, characterized by a lateral position on the phenotype axis, their width and height. The sum of the triangles defines the phenotype of the individuals, and the distance between it and a target function, which is the environment, represents their fitness. Each generation is subject to selection and each clone can undergo mutational events (point mutations, duplications, deletions, translocations, inversions): this is what allows us to observe evolution.

This software is developed by the INRIA Beagle team, in Villeurbanne.

Study of the fusion/fission dynamics of mitochondria

February — June 2022

Internship in the Theoretical Biology & Bioinformatics team (Utrecht), under the supervision of Paulien Hogeweg.
I used an extension of an Artistoo CPM model to try to understdan whether the fusion/fission dynamic commonly observed in mitochdonria plays a key in the DNA error correction system.

MESS (Massive Eco-evolutionary Synthesis Simulations) is a software for simulating community assembly. By simulating the colonization of an island, with possible migrations from the mainland and different forms of selection at work, data on abundance, genetic diversity and traits are generated. These generated data can be confronted with empirical data to deduce the underlying parameters.