Scale-free regulatory networks allow more expression than random ones?

JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

卷:247

Article

Fortuna, Miguel A. ; Melian, Carlos J.

关键词: complex networks;    gene networks;    network assembly;    regulatory interactions;    transcriptional regulatory networks;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.03.017

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we compile the network of software packages with regulatory interactions (dependences and conflicts) from Debian GNU/Linux operating system and use it as an analogy for a gene regulatory network. Using a trace-back algorithm We assemble networks from the pool of packages with both scale-free (real data) and exponential (null model) topologies. We record the maximum number of packages that can be functionally installed in the system (i.e., the active network size). We show that scale-free regulatory networks allow a larger active network size than random ones. This result might have implications for the number of expressed genes at steady state. Small genomes with scale-free regulatory topologies could allow much more expression than large genomes with exponential topologies. This may have implications for the dynamics, robustness and evolution of genomes. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free