Growing biochemical networks: Identifying the intrinsic properties

Abstract

How can a new incoming biological node measure the degree of nodes already present in a network and thus decide, on the basis of this counting, to preferentially connect with the more connected ones? Although such explicit comparison and choice is quite plausible in the case of man-made networks, like Internet, leading the network to a scalefree topology, it is much harder to conceive for biochemical networks. The computer simulations presented in this article try to respect simple and, as far as possible, basic biological characteristics such as the heterogeneity of biological nodes, the existence of natural hubs, the way nodes bind by mutual affinity, the significance of type-based network as compared with instance-based one and the consequent importance of the nodes concentration to the selection of the partners of the incoming nodes. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.