Park, Jeong-ManNiestemski, Liang RenDeem, Michael W.2016-02-052016-02-052015Park, Jeong-Man, Niestemski, Liang Ren and Deem, Michael W.. "Quasispecies theory for evolution of modularity." <i>Physical Review E,</i> 91, no. 1 (2015) American Physical Society: 012714. http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.012714.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/88398Biological systems are modular, and this modularity evolves over time and in different environments. A number of observations have been made of increased modularity in biological systems under increased environmental pressure. We here develop a quasispecies theory for the dynamics of modularity in populations of these systems. We show how the steady-state fitness in a randomly changing environment can be computed. We derive a fluctuation dissipation relation for the rate of change of modularity and use it to derive a relationship between rate of environmental changes and rate of growth of modularity. We also find a principle of least action for the evolved modularity at steady state. Finally, we compare our predictions to simulations of protein evolution and find them to be consistent.engArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.Journal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.012714