For asexual organisms point mutations correspond to local displacements in
the genotypic space, while other genotypic rearrangements represent long-range
jumps. We investigate the spreading properties of an initially homogeneous
population in a flat fitness landscape, and the equilibrium properties on a
smooth fitness landscape. We show that a small-world effect is present: even a
small fraction of quenched long-range jumps makes the results indistinguishable
from those obtained by assuming all mutations equiprobable. Moreover, we find
that the equilibrium distribution is a Boltzmann one, in which the fitness
plays the role of an energy, and mutations that of a temperature.Comment: 13 pages and 5 figures. New revised versio
