Modularity has emerged as a central concept for evolutionary biology, providing the field with a theory of organismal structure and variation. This theory has reframed long standing questions and serves as a unified conceptual framework for genetics, developmental biology and multivariate evolution. Research programs in systems biology and quantitative genetics are bridging the gap between these fields. While this synthesis is ongoing, some major themes have emerged and empirical evidence for modularity has become abundant. In this review, we look at modularity from an historical perspective, highlighting its meaning at different levels of biological organization and the different methods that can be used to detect it. We then explore the relationship between quantitative genetic approaches to modularity and developmental genetic studies. We conclude by investigating the dynamic relationship between modularity and the adaptive landscape and how this potentially shapes evolution and can help bridge the gap between micro- and macroevolution.

中文翻译：

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模块化：基因、发育和进化

模块化已成为进化生物学的核心概念，为该领域提供了有机体结构和变异的理论。该理论重新定义了长期存在的问题，并作为遗传学、发育生物学和多元进化的统一概念框架。系统生物学和数量遗传学的研究项目正在弥合这些领域之间的差距。虽然这种综合正在进行中，但一些主要主题已经出现，模块化的经验证据也变得丰富。在这篇综述中，我们从历史的角度来看待模块化，强调其在不同生物组织层次上的意义以及可用于检测它的不同方法。然后，我们探讨了模块化的定量遗传方法与发育遗传研究之间的关系。