LES - Lineage Evolution System
Les is a command-line tool based on
Ales for simulating the evolution of cell lineage complexity.
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler," Albert
Einstein once said.
Nature seems to agree. Cells become specialized by
following a certain predetermined lineage, but we have found that they take a developmental
path that is simpler than that expected by chance alone.
We compared the known cell lineages of three different nematodes and an ascidian with those
generated by a computer program.
The algorithm allowed us to contrast the
developmental complexity in different organisms with the simplest systems
having the least number of steps to fully mature.
Our research showed that the specialization processes were significantly
simpler than that predicted by chance, but still not as basic as they could
be (
Azevedo et al., 2005).