Network motifs: Simple building blocks of complex networks

Milo, R., Shen-Orr, S., Itzkovitz, S., Kashtan, N., Chklovskii, D., Alon, U. (October 2002) Network motifs: Simple building blocks of complex networks. Science, 298 (5594). pp. 824-827. ISSN 0036-8075

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12399590
DOI: 10.1126/science.298.5594.824

Abstract

Complex networks are studied across many fields of science. To uncover their structural design principles, we defined “network motifs,” patterns of interconnections occurring in complex networks at numbers that are significantly higher than those in randomized networks. We found such motifs in networks from biochemistry, neurobiology, ecology, and engineering. The motifs shared by ecological food webs were distinct from the motifs shared by the genetic networks of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae or from those found in the World Wide Web. Similar motifs were found in networks that perform information processing, even though they describe elements as different as biomolecules within a cell and synaptic connections between neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans. Motifs may thus define universal classes of networks. This approach may uncover the basic building blocks of most networks.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > neural networks
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Chklovskii lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: October 2002
Date Deposited: 08 Jan 2014 16:36
Last Modified: 08 Jan 2014 16:36
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/28747

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