Modeling Evolution of Regulatory Networks in Artificial Organisms

Regulatory networks are not randomly connected. They are modular, scale‐free networks and some motifs distribution is clearly different from random distribution. However, the evolutionary causes and consequences of this specific connectivity are mainly unknown. In this paper we propose Raevol, an integrative model to study the evolution of regulatory networks. While most existing models consider direct evolution of the regulatory network, Raevol integrates a realistic genotype‐phenotype mapping where the genome undergo mutations that indirectly modify the genetic network. Moreover, the organisms are selected at the phenotype level (which is produced by the genome via the regulation network). Thus, in Raevol, the network only indirectly evolve and it can only be selected if its activity influences the phenotype. We plan to use this model to better understand the network evolution and to study the influence of networks topology on evolution.