Effect of mutation rate on population size and stage progression.
(a) Number of cells in the population as a function of time. (b-f) Nutrient levels in simulations with mutation rates 0.1% (b), 0.5% (c), 1% (d), 5% (e), and 10% (f) showing a similar behavior in all cases. (g) Distribution of cells along the three main principal components of the populations in phenotype space from example simulations with 1%, 10%, and 20% mutation rates at the end of simulations (t = 105 MCS). Each dot represents a single cell. (h) Relative weight (eigenvalues) of the principal axes of the populations shown in (g). (i) Composition of the first three principal axes in the populations shown in (g). (j-k) Spread and density of clusters identified in phenotype space at the end of simulations using hierarchical clustering, depicted as the function of distance from the origin. Each dot corresponds to one cluster from a total of 10 independent simulations. (l-m) Spread and density of clusters throughout the evolution of the model. Data from 10 independent simulation repeats from each condition, except (g-i) which shows data from one simulation from each condition.
