Investigations into the relationship between feedback loops and functional importance of a signal transduction network based on Boolean network modeling.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A number of studies on biological networks have been carried out to unravel the topological characteristics that can explain the functional importance of network nodes. For instance, connectivity, clustering coefficient, and shortest path length were previously proposed for this purpose. However, there is still a pressing need to investigate another topological measure that can better describe the functional importance of network nodes. In this respect, we considered a feedback loop which is ubiquitously found in various biological networks.

Results

We discovered that the number of feedback loops (NuFBL) is a crucial measure for evaluating the importance of a network node and verified this through a signal transduction network in the hippocampal CA1 neuron of mice

SUBMITTER: Kwon YK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2100072 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature