Error catastrophe

Error catastrophe is the extinction of an organism (often in the context of microorganisms such as viruses) as a result of excessive mutations. Error catastrophe is something predicted in mathematical models and has also been observed empirically. The question arises: how many mutations can be made during each replication before the population of viruses begins to lose self-identity?

Error catastrophe

Error catastrophe is the extinction of an organism (often in the context of microorganisms such as viruses) as a result of excessive mutations. Error catastrophe is something predicted in mathematical models and has also been observed empirically. The question arises: how many mutations can be made during each replication before the population of viruses begins to lose self-identity?