Generic Adaptation by Fast Chaotic Exploration and Slow Feedback Fixation

Abstract

Living systems adapt to various environmental conditions by changing their internal states. Inspired by gene expression and epigenetic modification dynamics, we herein propose a generic mechanism for adaptation by combining fast oscillatory dynamics and a slower feedback fixation process. Through extensive model simulations, we reveal that fast chaotic dynamics serve as global searching for adapted states fixed by slower dynamics. The mechanism improves as the number of elements is increased. Relevance to cellular adaptation and optimization in artificial neural networks is also discussed herein.