A linear algebra model for quasispecies

In the present work we present a simple model of the population genetics of quasispecies. We show that the error catastrophe arises because in Biology the mutation rates are almost zero and the mutations themselves are almost neutral. We obtain and discuss previously known results from the point of view of this model. New results are: the fitness of a sequence in terms of its abundance in the quasispecies, a formula for the stable distribution of a quasispecies in which the fitness depends only on the Hamming distance to the master sequence, the time it takes the master sequence to generate a stable quasispecies (such as in the infection by a virus) and the fitness of quasispecies.