  We study the active to absorbing phase transition (AAPT) in a simple
two-component model system for a species and its mutant. We uncover the
nontrivial critical scaling behavior and weak dynamic scaling near the AAPT
that shows the significance of mutation and highlights the connection of this
model with the well-known directed percolation universality class. Our model
should be a useful starting point to study how mutation may affect extinction
or survival of a species.
