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657
The structure and function of complex networks
- SIAM REVIEW
, 2003
"... Inspired by empirical studies of networked systems such as the Internet, social networks, and biological networks, researchers have in recent years developed a variety of techniques and models to help us understand or predict the behavior of these systems. Here we review developments in this field, ..."
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Cited by 2600 (7 self)
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Inspired by empirical studies of networked systems such as the Internet, social networks, and biological networks, researchers have in recent years developed a variety of techniques and models to help us understand or predict the behavior of these systems. Here we review developments in this field, including such concepts as the small-world effect, degree distributions, clustering, network correlations, random graph models, models of network growth and preferential attachment, and dynamical processes taking place on networks.
Modeling and simulation of genetic regulatory systems: A literature review
- JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
, 2002
"... In order to understand the functioning of organisms on the molecular level, we need to know which genes are expressed, when and where in the organism, and to which extent. The regulation of gene expression is achieved through genetic regulatory systems structured by networks of interactions between ..."
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Cited by 738 (14 self)
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In order to understand the functioning of organisms on the molecular level, we need to know which genes are expressed, when and where in the organism, and to which extent. The regulation of gene expression is achieved through genetic regulatory systems structured by networks of interactions between DNA, RNA, proteins, and small molecules. As most genetic regulatory networks of interest involve many components connected through interlocking positive and negative feedback loops, an intuitive understanding of their dynamics is hard to obtain. As a consequence, formal methods and computer tools for the modeling and simulation of genetic regulatory networks will be indispensable. This paper reviews formalisms that have been employed in mathematical biology and bioinformatics to describe genetic regulatory systems, in particular directed graphs, Bayesian networks, Boolean networks and their generalizations, ordinary and partial differential equations, qualitative differential equations, stochastic equations, and rule-based formalisms. In addition, the paper discusses how these formalisms have been used in the simulation of the behavior of actual regulatory systems.
Probabilistic Boolean networks: a rule-based uncertainty model for gene regulatory networks
, 2002
"... Motivation: Our goal is to construct a model for genetic regulatory networks such that the model class: (i ) incorporates rule-based dependencies between genes; (ii ) allows the systematic study of global network dynamics; (iii ) is able to cope with uncertainty, both in the data and the model selec ..."
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Cited by 391 (59 self)
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Motivation: Our goal is to construct a model for genetic regulatory networks such that the model class: (i ) incorporates rule-based dependencies between genes; (ii ) allows the systematic study of global network dynamics; (iii ) is able to cope with uncertainty, both in the data and the model selection; and (iv ) permits the quantification of the relative influence and sensitivity of genes in their interactions with other genes.
Genetic Network Inference: From Co-Expression Clustering To Reverse Engineering
, 2000
"... motivation: Advances in molecular biological, analytical and computational technologies are enabling us to systematically investigate the complex molecular processes underlying biological systems. In particular, using highthroughput gene expression assays, we are able to measure the output of the ge ..."
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Cited by 336 (0 self)
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motivation: Advances in molecular biological, analytical and computational technologies are enabling us to systematically investigate the complex molecular processes underlying biological systems. In particular, using highthroughput gene expression assays, we are able to measure the output of the gene regulatory network. We aim here to review datamining and modeling approaches for conceptualizing and unraveling the functional relationships implicit in these datasets. Clustering of co-expression profiles allows us to infer shared regulatory inputs and functional pathways. We discuss various aspects of clustering, ranging from distance measures to clustering algorithms and multiple-cluster memberships. More advanced analysis aims to infer causal connections between genes directly, i.e. who is regulating whom and how. We discuss several approaches to the problem of reverse engineering of genetic networks, from discrete Boolean networks, to continuous linear and non-linear models. We conclude that the combination of predictive modeling with systematic experimental verification will be required to gain a deeper insight into living organisms, therapeutic targeting and bioengineering.
Networks, Dynamics, and the Small-World Phenomenon
- American Journal of Sociology
, 1999
"... The small-world phenomenon formalized in this article as the coincidence of high local clustering and short global separation, is shown to be a general feature of sparse, decentralized networks that are neither completely ordered nor completely random. Networks of this kind have received little atte ..."
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Cited by 220 (1 self)
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The small-world phenomenon formalized in this article as the coincidence of high local clustering and short global separation, is shown to be a general feature of sparse, decentralized networks that are neither completely ordered nor completely random. Networks of this kind have received little attention, yet they appear to be widespread in the social and natural sciences, as is indicated here by three distinct examples. Furthermore, small admixtures of randomness to an otherwise ordered network can have a dramatic impact on its dynamical, as well as structural, properties—a feature illustrated by a simple model of disease transmission.
The Small World Inside Large Metabolic Networks
, 2000
"... We analyze the structuture of a large metabolic network, that of the energy and biosynthesis metabolism of Escherichia coli. This network is a paradigmatic case for the large genetic and metabolic networks that functional genomics efforts are beginning to elucidate. To analyze the structure of net ..."
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Cited by 218 (7 self)
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We analyze the structuture of a large metabolic network, that of the energy and biosynthesis metabolism of Escherichia coli. This network is a paradigmatic case for the large genetic and metabolic networks that functional genomics efforts are beginning to elucidate. To analyze the structure of networks involving hundreds or thousands of components by simple visual inspection is impossible, and a quantitative framework is needed to analyze them. We propose a graph theoretical description of the E. coli metabolic network, a description that we hope will prove useful for other genetic networks. We find that this network is a small world graph, a type of graph observed in a variety of seemingly unrelated areas, such as friendship networks in sociology, the structure of electrical power grids, and the nervous system of C. elegans. Moreover, its connectivity follows a power law, another unusual but by no means rare statistical distribution. This architecture may serve to minimize trans...
The topology of the regulatory interactions predicts the expression pattern of the segment polarity genes in Drosophila melanogaster
, 2003
"... Expression of the Drosophila segment polarity genes is initiated by a prepattern of pair-rule gene products and maintained by a network of regulatory interactions throughout several stages of embryonic development. Analysis of a model of gene interactions based on differential equations showed tha ..."
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Cited by 186 (11 self)
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Expression of the Drosophila segment polarity genes is initiated by a prepattern of pair-rule gene products and maintained by a network of regulatory interactions throughout several stages of embryonic development. Analysis of a model of gene interactions based on differential equations showed that wildtype expression patterns of these genes can be obtained for a wide range of kinetic parameters, which suggests that the steady states are determined by the topology of the network and the type of regulatory interactions between components, not the detailed form of the rate laws. To investigate this, we propose and analyze a Boolean model of this network which is based on a binary ON/OFF representation of transcription and protein levels, and in which the interactions are formulated as logical functions. In this model the spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression are determined by the topology of the network and whether components are present or absent, rather than the absolute levels of the mRNAs and proteins and the functional details of their interactions. The model is able to reproduce the wild type gene expression patterns, as well as the ectopic expression patterns observed in over-expression experiments and various mutants. Furthermore, we compute explicitly all steady states of the network and identify the basin of attraction of each steady state. The model gives important insights into the functioning of the segment polarity gene network, such as the crucial role of the wingless and sloppy paired genes, and the network's ability to correct errors in the prepattern.
Sensitivity and specificity of inferring genetic regulatory interactions from microarray experiments with dynamic Bayesian networks
- Bioinformatics
, 2003
"... Motivation: Bayesian networks have been applied to infer genetic regulatory interactions from microarray gene expression data. This inference problem is particularly hard in that interactions between hundreds of genes have to be learned from very small data sets, typically containing only a few doze ..."
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Cited by 174 (5 self)
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Motivation: Bayesian networks have been applied to infer genetic regulatory interactions from microarray gene expression data. This inference problem is particularly hard in that interactions between hundreds of genes have to be learned from very small data sets, typically containing only a few dozen time points during a cell cycle. Most previous studies have assessed the inference results on real gene expression data by comparing predicted genetic regulatory interactions with those known from the biological literature. This approach is controversial due to the absence of known gold standards, which renders the estimation of the sensitivity and specificity, that is, the true and (complementary) false detection rate, unreliable and difficult. The objective of the present study is to test the viability of the Bayesian network paradigm in a realistic simulation study. First, gene expression data are simulated from a realistic biological network involving DNAs, mRNAs, inactive protein monomers and active protein dimers. Then, interaction networks are inferred from these data in a reverse engineering approach, using Bayesian networks and Bayesian learning with Markov chain Monte Carlo.
Results: The simulation results are presented as receiver operator characteristics curves. This allows estimating the proportion of spurious gene interactions incurred for a specified target proportion of recovered true interactions. The findings demonstrate how the network inference performance varies with the training set size, the degree of inadequacy of prior assumptions, the experimental sampling strategy and the inclusion of further, sequence-based information.
From Boolean to Probabilistic Boolean Networks as Models of Genetic Regulatory Networks
- Proc. IEEE
, 2002
"... Mathematical and computational modeling of genetic regulatory networks promises to uncover the fundamental principles governing biological systems in an integrarive and holistic manner. It also paves the way toward the development of systematic approaches for effective therapeutic intervention in di ..."
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Cited by 124 (23 self)
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Mathematical and computational modeling of genetic regulatory networks promises to uncover the fundamental principles governing biological systems in an integrarive and holistic manner. It also paves the way toward the development of systematic approaches for effective therapeutic intervention in disease. The central theme in this paper is the Boolean formalism as a building block for modeling complex, large-scale, and dynamical networks of genetic interactions. We discuss the goals of modeling genetic networks as well as the data requirements. The Boolean formalism is justified from several points of view. We then introduce Boolean networks and discuss their relationships to nonlinear digital filters. The role of Boolean networks in understanding cell differentiation and cellular functional states is discussed. The inference of Boolean networks from real gene expression data is considered from the viewpoints of computational learning theory and nonlinear signal processing, touching on computational complexity of learning and robustness. Then, a discussion of the need to handle uncertainty in a probabilistic framework is presented, leading to an introduction of probabilistic Boolean networks and their relationships to Markov chains. Methods for quantifying the influence of genes on other genes are presented. The general question of the potential effect of individual genes on the global dynamical network behavior is considered using stochastic perturbation analysis. This discussion then leads into the problem of target identification for therapeutic intervention via the development of several computational tools based on first-passage times in Markov chains. Examples from biology are presented throughout the paper. 1
Toward an evolvable model of development for autonomous agent synthesis
, 1994
"... We are interested in the synthesis of autonomous agents using evolutionary techniques. Most work in this area utilizes a direct mapping from genotypic space to phenotypic space. In order to address some of the limitations of this approach, we present a simplified yet biologically defensible model of ..."
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Cited by 108 (3 self)
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We are interested in the synthesis of autonomous agents using evolutionary techniques. Most work in this area utilizes a direct mapping from genotypic space to phenotypic space. In order to address some of the limitations of this approach, we present a simplified yet biologically defensible model of the developmental process. The design issues that arise when formulating this model at the molecular, cellular and organismal level are discussed, and for each of these issues we describe how they were resolved in our implementation. We present and analyze some of the morphologies that can be explored using this model, specifically one that has agent-like properties. In addition, we demonstrate that this developmental model can be evolved. 1.
