Instead of 0 and 1, the DNA alphabet has four characters—the four bases adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine—but that’s a superficial difference. Variations, whether in DNA sequences or bit strings, can be generated in several ways. The simplest approach is point mutation, flipping a random bit in the string or changing a single base in a stretch of DNA. But for Holland, the real power of genetic algorithms lay in something more complicated: sex.
