上個月剛被 AIIM 接受的期刊論文：Bridge and Brick Network Motifs: Identifying Significant Building Blocks from Complex Biological Systems
山水
ABSTRACT:
Objective: A major focus in computational system biology research is
defining organizing principles that govern complex biological network
formation and evolution. The task is considered a major challenge
because network behavior and function prediction requires the
identification of functionally and statistically important motifs.
Here we propose an algorithm for performing two tasks simultaneously:
(a) detecting global statistical features and local connection
structures in biological networks, and (b) locating functionally and
statistically significant network motifs.
Methods and Material: Two gene regulation networks were tested: the
bacteria Escherichia coli and the yeast eukaryote Saccharomyces
cerevisiae. To understand their structural organizing principles and
evolutionary mechanisms, we defined bridge motifs as composed of weak
links only or of at least one weak link and multiple strong links, and
defined brick motifs as composed of strong links only.
Results: After examining functional and topological differences
between bridge and brick motifs for predicting biological network
behaviors and functions, we found that most genetic network motifs
belong to the bridge category. This strongly suggests that the weak-
tie links that provide unique paths for signal control significantly
impact the signal processing function of transcription networks.
Conclusions: Bridge and brick motif content analysis can provide
researchers with global and local views of individual real networks
and help them locate functionally and topologically overlapping or
isolated motifs for purposes of investigating biological system
functions, behaviors, and similarities.
KEYWORDS: small-world properties, local clustering, strong/weak-tie
link, network-oriented approach, complex biological systems, network
motif