ABSTRACT
Quasispecies (QS) are well-mixed “clouds” of viral or bacterial genotypes that appear in apopulation atasteady-state, mutation-selection balance (Bull et al. 2005). Viral quasispecies (VQS) have been considered to be complex adaptive systems (CASs) (Ruiz-Jarabo et al. 2000). RNA viruses, because of their high mutation rates, are used both experimentally (in vivo), and in stochastic mathematical models as a prototypical QS to study the dynamics of evolution in binary systems, mutation-selection balance, and also the mechanisms of catastrophic population collapse.
