The mechanisms of evolution (i.e. random mutation, selection, and speciation) were already established before we discovered DNA, as discussed by Mayr.
"By the end of the 1940s the work of the evolutionists was considered to be largely completed, as indicated by the robustness of the Evolutionary Synthesis. But in the ensuing decades, all sorts of things happened that might have had a major impact on the Darwinian paradigm. First came Avery's demonstration that nucleic acids and not proteins are the genetic material. Then in 1953, the discovery of the double helix by Watson and Crick increased the analytical capacity of the geneticists by at least an order of magnitude. Unexpectedly, however, none of these molecular findings necessitated a revision of the Darwinian paradigm—nor did the even more drastic genomic revolution that has permitted the analysis of genes down to the last base pair."--Ernst Mayr, "80 Years of Watching the Evolutionary Scenery"
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/305/5680/46.full
As you mention, all you need for a simulation of evolution is random changes in phenotype and selection. How that random change in phenotype is achieved is completely irrelevant to the process of evolution.
"By the end of the 1940s the work of the evolutionists was considered to be largely completed, as indicated by the robustness of the Evolutionary Synthesis. But in the ensuing decades, all sorts of things happened that might have had a major impact on the Darwinian paradigm. First came Avery's demonstration that nucleic acids and not proteins are the genetic material. Then in 1953, the discovery of the double helix by Watson and Crick increased the analytical capacity of the geneticists by at least an order of magnitude. Unexpectedly, however, none of these molecular findings necessitated a revision of the Darwinian paradigm—nor did the even more drastic genomic revolution that has permitted the analysis of genes down to the last base pair."--Ernst Mayr, "80 Years of Watching the Evolutionary Scenery"
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/305/5680/46.full
As you mention, all you need for a simulation of evolution is random changes in phenotype and selection. How that random change in phenotype is achieved is completely irrelevant to the process of evolution.
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