Efficiency and vulnerability are selective forces in evolution of biological networks

Csaba Ortutay , Mauno Vihinen 1 Institute of Medical Technology, FI-33014 University of Tampere, Finland 2 Research Center, Tampere University Hospital, FI-33520 Tampere, Finland
1 1,2

Introduction During the past decade our view of structure of networks has changed enormously. Recently, several studies have been published about natural networks, ranging from social interactions via protein-protein interactions to the spreading of epidemics as well as human made networks like telecommunication networks and the Internet [1]. The evolution and development of these networks has been extensively studied, and preferential attachment, as the organizing principle, was suggested to be the mechanism creating their common structure. Our former studies on the evolution of the protein interaction networks have shown strange, unexpected characteristics [2,3]. Specific network properties, efficiency and vulnerability, behave in completely opposite way as predicted by the accepted mathematical models.

Results Simulation: 4000 jobs on ~50 CPU cores 2 months real time, 1.5 years CPU time 6 combinations of 3 selective forces 5 (10) parallel runs for each combinations Immunome Simulation PPI network

Hypothesis During the evolution of biological networks efficiency and vulnerability have acted as the main selective forces.

Objectives Creation of a simulation model which mimics biological evolution by using random mutations, and positive and negative selective forces to shape populations of networks during successive generations Testing different combinations of selective forces if they can produce networks similar to the biological ones

Methods Simulation on Techila Grid

Generate starting network population

Generate offsprings with mutations Negative selection 1 Eliminate 25% of most vulnarables

Conclusions Our approach to simulate emergence of network populations via a process mimicking biological evolution is intrinsically simplistic. In real biological networks many different effects influence the evolutionary path of a particular network. The results shown that efficiency and vulnerability are selective forces during the evolution of protein interaction networks and capable of creating some features similar to those observed in real world PPI networks.

Record statistics

Evolution cycle

Positive selection Select most efficients for next generation

Negative selection 2 Eliminate 25% of most expensives

References Tested selective forces Efficiency: quantifies the efficiency of the network in sending information between nodes Vulnerability: the loss of efficiency if the most vulnerable node is knocked out Expense: number of all edges in the network 1: Barabasi AL, Albert R, Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science, 1999 2: Ortutay C, Siermala M, Vihinen M, Molecular characterization of the immune system: emergence of proteins, processes, and domains. Immunogenetics, 2007 3: Ortutay C, Vihinen M, Efficiency of the immunome protein interaction network increases during evolution. Immunome Res, 2008