Evolving modular genetic regulatory networks

We introduce a system that combines ontogenetic development and artificial evolution to automatically design robots in a physics-based, virtual environment. Through lesion experiments on the evolved agents, we demonstrate that the evolved genetic regulatory networks from successful evolutionary runs are more modular than those obtained from unsuccessful runs.

[1]  G. G. Stokes "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[2]  K. Anderson,et al.  Information for the dorsal–ventral pattern of the Drosophila embryo is stored as maternal mRNA , 1984, Nature.

[3]  E. Lewis,et al.  The 1991 Albert Lasker Medical Awards. Clusters of master control genes regulate the development of higher organisms. , 1992, JAMA.

[4]  Jack D. Cohen Development of the zootype , 1993, Nature.

[5]  Karl Sims,et al.  Evolving 3D Morphology and Behavior by Competition , 1994, Artificial Life.

[6]  Karl Sims,et al.  Evolving 3d morphology and behavior by competition , 1994 .

[7]  Frédéric Gruau,et al.  Automatic Definition of Modular Neural Networks , 1994, Adapt. Behav..

[8]  G. Edelman,et al.  A measure for brain complexity: relating functional segregation and integration in the nervous system. , 1994, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[9]  G. Wagner HOMOLOGUES, NATURAL KINDS AND THE EVOLUTION OF MODULARITY , 1996 .

[10]  R. Mann,et al.  Why are Hox genes clustered? , 1997, BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

[11]  Peter Eggenberger,et al.  Evolving Morphologies of Simulated 3d Organisms Based on Differential Gene Expression , 1997 .

[12]  J. Faulkner A head start. , 1998, Nursing times.

[13]  A. Meyer Developmental biology: Hox gene variation and evolution , 1998, Nature.

[14]  G Tononi,et al.  Measures of degeneracy and redundancy in biological networks. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[15]  J. Slack Master control genes in development and evolution , 1999 .

[16]  Torsten Reil,et al.  Dynamics of Gene Expression in an Artificial Genome - Implications for Biological and Artificial Ontogeny , 1999, ECAL.

[17]  Jordan B. Pollack,et al.  Automatic design and manufacture of robotic lifeforms , 2000, Nature.

[18]  Stefano Nolfi,et al.  Duplication of Modules Facilitates the Evolution of Functional Specialization , 1999, Artificial Life.

[19]  Thomas de Quincey [C] , 2000, The Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 1: Writings, 1799–1820.

[20]  S. Carroll Endless Forms The Evolution of Gene Regulation and Morphological Diversity , 2000, Cell.

[21]  J. Finnerty Evolutionary developmental biology: Head start , 2000, Nature.

[22]  B. Schierwater,et al.  Current problems with the zootype and the early evolution of Hox genes. , 2001, The Journal of experimental zoology.

[23]  K. White Functional genomics and the study of development, variation and evolution , 2001, Nature Reviews Genetics.

[24]  R. Pfeifer,et al.  Repeated structure and dissociation of genotypic and phenotypic complexity in artificial ontogeny , 2001 .