[Nebullis]

Bump

[ctonious]

Alright you poly-sci majors, get cracking on predicting the evolution of E. Carville and Clinton.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

This is BS. They can't even model a protein properly yet...how on earth do they make this quantum leap?

[VOA]

Now, NSF-supported researchers at the University of California at San Diego have
created a computer model that accurately predicts how E. coli metabolic systems
adapt and evolve when the bacteria are placed under environmental constraints.

This should feed plenty of lively discussions between Darwinian random evolutionists
and intelligent design proponents.

Does the ability to design a computer program that can predict evolution mean that
the scientists have successfully modeled the random walk of evolution...
or shown that "the grand designer" has created a system that even a computer program
can imitate...

I've got no opinion either way...can just see this being batted about...

[AndrewC]

This looks like the subject, from Nature.

Annotated genome sequences can be used to reconstruct whole-cell metabolic networks. These metabolic networks can be modelled and analysed (computed) to study complex biological functions. In particular, constraints-based in silico models have been used to calculate optimal growth rates on common carbon substrates, and the results were found to be consistent with experimental data under many but not all conditions. Optimal biological functions are acquired through an evolutionary process. Thus, incorrect predictions of in silico models based on optimal performance criteria may be due to incomplete adaptive evolution under the conditions examined. Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 grows sub-optimally on glycerol as the sole carbon source. Here we show that when placed under growth selection pressure, the growth rate of E. coli on glycerol reproducibly evolved over 40 days, or about 700 generations, from a sub-optimal value to the optimal growth rate predicted from a whole-cell in silico model. These results open the possibility of using adaptive evolution of entire metabolic networks to realize metabolic states that have been determined a priori based on in silico analysis.

[jennyp]

Now THAT is really interesting! (If it means what I think it means.)

Are they saying that they can predict what are the most viable evolutionary paths - such as which metabolic systems are more likely to change in what ways - in response to a given environment change?

[Junior]

Ping

[ContentiousObjector]

I hope it was written in Ada,