解开生物网络的复杂性

A new approach to disentangling（解决，松开） the complexities¹ of biological networks, such as the way in which proteins interact in our body's cells has been developed by researchers in China. The team's algorithm（算法） could allow biologists and biomedical researchers to unravel² new clues about how cells work and what goes awry³ with such networks in various diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer. We find networks everywhere in technology, in nature, in our bodies. They are ubiquitous（普遍存在的） in countless⁴ fields of research from electronic circuitry to social networks from transportation systems to biological systems. Researchers have demonstrated that although networks may superficially be very disparate in nature they nevertheless share many global properties, such as "small world" and "scale free" characteristics. This means that understanding one kind of network can help us understand another.

However, to dig deeper still into the universal characteristics of networks requires us to understand the basic structural⁵ elements present in a particular -- the so-called network "motifs⁶." Motifs are patterns of interconnections between the nodes in a network, whether transistors⁷, neurons Facebook users, or in molecular⁸ biology, proteins. Motifs that occur in significantly larger numbers in real networks than in randomised networks can be used to characterise local features of even the most complex networks. With high-throughput analytical¹⁰ techniques, molecular biologists are beginning to uncover network motifs in protein systems, and likewise in metabolism¹¹（新陈代谢） , the brain, the spread of pathogens and many other areas of interest.

Computer scientists Guimin Qin and Lin Gao of Xidian University in Shaanxi, China, have devised an efficient algorithm for detecting motifs in protein networks. The algorithm first searches for specific non-tree-like sub-structures in a network that are not so commonly found in random⁹ networks. It then classifies these sub-structures and clusters them hierarchically to reveal the presence of recurring¹² motifs in the network. The team has applied¹³ the algorithm to a network of protein-protein interaction (PPI) for the well-studied bacterium¹⁴ Escherichia coli and the yeast¹⁵ Saccharomyces cerevisiae（啤酒，麦酒） .

"Our experimental results show that the algorithm can efficiently¹⁶ discover motifs, which are consistent with current biology knowledge," the team says. Importantly, however, the approach has also revealed several novel motifs previously¹⁷ unrecognised. "Our algorithm can detect several consensus¹⁸ motifs with a given size, which may help biologists go further into cellular¹⁹ process," the team adds.