Nothing is more fundamental to life than the ability to reproduce and duplicate the
information cells store in their genomes. The mechanism of duplication of DNA has been
conserved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. The aim of the study was to quantify which
evolutionary forces could produce the pattern of genome replication architecture observed
in present-day organisms. This was achieved using an evolutionary simulation, combining
random genome sequence shuffling, mutation, selection and the mathematical modeling of DNA
replication. We have found parameter values which explained evolutionary pressures of DNA
replication in E.coli, P.calidifontis and S.
cerevisae. Surprisingly, the results of the evolutionary simulation suggests
that for a fixed cost per replication origin it is more advantageous for genomes to reduce
the number of replication origins under increasing uncertainty in origin activation
timing.