The evolutionary origins of modularity
Open Access
- 22 March 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Royal Society in Proceedings. Biological sciences
- Vol. 280 (1755), 20122863
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2863
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.Other Versions
This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit:
- Specialization Can Drive the Evolution of ModularityPLoS Computational Biology, 2010
- Evolution of Complex Modular Biological NetworksPLoS Computational Biology, 2008
- Is evolvability evolvable?Nature Reviews Genetics, 2008
- The road to modularityNature Reviews Genetics, 2007
- Principles of modularity, regularity, and hierarchy for scalable systemsJournal of Biological Physics and Chemistry, 2007
- An Introduction to Systems BiologyPublished by Taylor & Francis Ltd ,2006
- Spontaneous evolution of modularity and network motifsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2005
- Functional cartography of complex metabolic networksNature, 2005
- Chance and necessity: the evolution of morphological complexity and diversityNature, 2001
- The columnar organization of the neocortexBrain, 1997