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The road to modularity.

Günter P Wagner1, Mihaela Pavlicev, James M Cheverud

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8106, USA. gunter.wagner@yale.edu

Nature Reviews. Genetics
|November 17, 2007
PubMed
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Organisms exhibit modularity, with interconnected components. This review explores the origins of biological modularity, debating whether natural selection or mutation drives its evolution.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental biology
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Systems biology

Background:

  • Biological networks often display modular organization, characterized by distinct, internally cohesive units.
  • Modularity is a key concept in understanding organismal complexity across evolutionary and developmental biology.
  • Recent advances in molecular systems biology highlight the importance of modularity in biological systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the evidence supporting the modular organization of organisms.
  • To examine models explaining the evolutionary and developmental origins of biological modules.
  • To address the central question of whether natural selection or biased mutation drives modularity.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of empirical evidence for biological modularity.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis of theoretical models on the origins of modularity.
  • Synthesis of findings from developmental, evolutionary, and systems biology.

    • Main Results:

    • Strong evidence supports a modular organization in many biological systems.
    • Multiple models exist to explain the emergence of modularity.
    • A key unresolved question is the relative contribution of natural selection versus mutation.

    Conclusions:

    • Organisms are widely considered to possess a modular structure.
    • The precise mechanisms driving the evolution of this modularity remain a subject of active debate.
    • Further research is needed to distinguish the roles of selection and mutation in shaping biological modules.