From cellular components to living cells (and back) [Elektronische Ressource] : evolution of function in biological networks / Thorsten Lenser. Gutachter: Peter Dittrich ; Stefan Schuster ; Peter Hemmerich

From Cellular Components toLiving Cells (and Back) –Evolution of Function inBiological NetworksDissertationzur Erlangung des akademischen Gradesdoctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat)vorgelegt dem Rat der Fakult¨at fu¨r Mathematik und Informatikder Friedrich-Schiller-Universit¨at Jenavon Thorsten Lensergeboren am 11. Januar 1982 in OberhausenGutachter1. PD Dr. Peter Dittrich2. Prof. Dr. Stefan Schuster3. PD Dr. Peter HemmerichTag der ¨offentlichen Verteidigung: 18. Februar 2011iiAbstractNetwork models pervade modern biology. From ecosystems down to molec-ular interactions in cells, they provide abstraction and explanation for bi-ological processes. Thus, the relation between structure and function ofnetworks is central to any comprehensive attempt for a theoretical under-standing of life.Just as any living system, biological networks are shaped by evolutionaryprocesses. In reverse, artificial evolution can be employed to reconstructnetworks and to study their evolution. To this end, I have implementedan evolutionary algorithm specifically designed for the evolution of networkmodels. It couples genetic programming of the network topology with anevolution strategy applied to the kinetic parameters. By this separation ofstructural from parameter evolution, the kinetic parameters can adapt tonew topologies before these are evaluated.