Marc Hellmuth: Graphs and Evolution (Docent Lecture)

Abstract

Graphs are simple combinatorial objects that consist, in essence, of vertices and edges connecting the vertices. In this lecture will explore the wide variety of graphs used to abstract problems in real-life and, in particular, in biology and evolution. After a short overview, we will focus on the question: What are the essential building blocks (traits) of a phenotype? As we shall see, the latter is closely related to so-called graph products. Traits are then determined by the prime factors of the given phenotype space.