Error thresholds for molecular quasispecies as phase transitions: From simple landscapes to spin-glass models.

The correspondence between Eigen's model [Naturwissenschaften 58, 465 (1971)] for molecular quasispecies and the equilibrium properties of a lattice system proposed by Leuthausser [J. Chem. Phys. 84, 1884 (1986); J. Stat. Phys. 48, 343 (1987)] is used to characterize the error thresholds for the existence of quasispecies as phase transitions. For simple replication landscapes the error threshold is related to a first-order phase transition smoothed by the complete wetting of the time surface