genes, neurons, internet
:: organizing principles of networks
How do 30,000 genes in our DNA work together to form a large part of who we are? How do
one hundred billion neurons operate in our brain? The huge number of factors involved makes such
complex networks hard to crack. Now, a study uncovers a strategy for finding the organizing principles
of virtually any network – from neural networks to ecological food webs or the Internet.
A team headed by Dr. Uri Alon of the Weizmann Institute has found several such organizational
patterns – which they call 'network motifs' – underlying genetic, neural, technological,
and food networks.
Alon surmised that patterns serving an important function in nature might recur more often than
in randomized networks. This in mind, he devised an algorithm that enabled him to analyze the
plentiful scientific findings examining key networks in some well-researched organisms. Alon
noticed that some patterns in the networks were inexplicably more repetitive than they would
be in randomized networks. This handful of patterns was singled out as a potential bundle of
network motifs.
Surprisingly, the team found two identical motifs in genetic and neural systems. 'Apparently
both information-processing systems employ similar strategies,' says Alon. 'The motifs shared
by neural and genetic networks may serve to filter noise or allow for complex activation of neurons
or genes.' Exposing the 'wiring' of such networks can thus help scientists classify systems generically
(just as lions and mice both belong to the same 'class,' neural and genetic systems could be
classified in the same generic category if they have many motifs in common). >from
*Genes,
Neurons, and The Internet Found to Have Organizing Principles – Some Identical*
related context
> think networks: the
new science of networks. june 6, 2002
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