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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Syst. Biol.
Sec. Multiscale Mechanistic Modeling
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsysb.2024.1417800
This article is part of the Research Topic Insights in Multiscale Mechanistic Modelling: 2023 View all articles

Life's Building Blocks: The Modular Path to Multiscale Complexity

Provisionally accepted
Saúl Huitzil Saúl Huitzil 1,2*Cristian Huepe Cristian Huepe 1,2,3
  • 1 Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
  • 2 Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
  • 3 Cristian Huepe Labs Inc, Chicago, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Modularity, the structuring of systems into discrete, interconnected units, is a fundamental organizing principle in biology across multiple scales. Recent progress in understanding the role of modularity as an evolutionary mechanism and a key driver of biological complexity has highlighted its importance in shaping the structure and function of living systems. Here, we propose a unifying framework that identifies the potential evolutionary advantages of modularity in systems ranging from molecular networks to ecologies, such as facilitating evolvability, enhancing robustness, improving information flows, and enabling the emergence of higher-level functions.Our analysis reveals the pervasiveness of modularity in living systems and highlights its crucial role in the evolution of multiscale hierarchies of increasing complexity.

    Keywords: modularity, multiscale modeling, Hierarchical organization, Emergent complexity, evolutionary structures

    Received: 15 Apr 2024; Accepted: 19 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Huitzil and Huepe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Saúl Huitzil, Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.