2013 TheEvolutionaryOriginsofModular

• (Clune et al., 2013) ⇒ Jeff Clune, Jean-Baptiste Mouret, and Hod Lipson. (2013). “The Evolutionary Origins of Modularity.” In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 280(1755).

Subject Headings: Biological Network, Evolvability.

Notes

• It proposes that evolution produces modules in biological networks because modular designs have fewer and shorter network connections, which are costly to build and maintain. The "cost of wiring" constraint favors modular architectures.

Cited By

• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%222013%22+The+Evolutionary+Origins+of+Modularity

Quotes

Author Keywords

• Modularity; evolution; networks; evolvability; systems biology

Abstract

A central biological question is how natural organisms are so evolvable (capable of quickly adapting to new environments). A key driver of evolvability is the widespread modularity of biological networks — their organization as functional, sparsely connected subunits — but there is no consensus regarding why modularity itself evolved. Although most hypotheses assume indirect selection for evolvability, here we demonstrate that the ubiquitous, direct selection pressure to reduce the cost of connections between network nodes causes the emergence of modular networks. Computational evolution experiments with selection pressures to maximize network performance and minimize connection costs yield networks that are significantly more modular and more evolvable than control experiments that only select for performance. These results will catalyse research in numerous disciplines, such as neuroscience and genetics, and enhance our ability to harness evolution for engineering purposes.

References

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	Author	volume	Date Value	title	type	journal	titleUrl	doi	note	year
2013 TheEvolutionaryOriginsofModular	Jeff Clune Jean-Baptiste Mouret Hod Lipson			The Evolutionary Origins of Modularity