Date of Completion

2015

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Computer Science

Thesis Type

Honors College

First Advisor

Joshua Bongard

Keywords

modularity, robustness, gene regulatory network, evolutionary computation

Abstract

Modularity has been observed in biological systems of all shapes and sizes. Intuitively, we recognize that this component-based structure can increase efficiency and robustness in a system. Gene regulatory networks are a perfect example of a biological system that exhibits modularity, however, just how this modularity evolved is still unresolved. The research of Espinosa-Soto and Wagner supports the hypothesis the modularity observed in biological gene regulatory networks evolved as a result of specialization in gene activity (Espinosa-Soto & Wagner, 2010). By manipulating the implementation of their research we may further explore the conditions that drive the evolution of modularity. Specifically, this study explores how the robustness of a network and use of biased mutation may influence how modularity is evolved in gene regulatory networks.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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