Network analysis and integration in a virtual cell environment

Abstract

Integrative Bioinformatics combines a number of different disciplines related to biology as well as informatics. One major target of this research area is the creation of a virtual cell. Naturally, this topic is accompanied by a vast amount of problems which arise due to the fact that a large number of highly specific disciplines have to be addressed. In this publication a subproblem will be discussed, functional cell modeling. Beginning with a virtual cell environment which provides cell components featuring different subcompartmental layers, protein-related networks will be localized and visualized. For the localization, a data warehouse will be accessed. Special interactive techniques will be applied to the semiautomatic analysis of localization entries found in databases. Finally, different visualization approaches will be shown, and 2D and 3D network visualization will be discussed, as well as quantitative illustrations using charts.