Graph Theoretic Concepts in the Study of Biological Networks

Abstract

The theory of complex networks has a wide range of applications in a variety of disciplines such as communications and power system engineering, the internet and worldwide web (www), food webs, human social networks, molecular biology, population biology and biological networks. The focus of this paper is on biological applications of the theory of graphs and networks. Graph theory and several graph theoretic properties serve as an ideal mathematical tool in the analysis of complex networks. We present the basic concepts and notations from graph theory which is widely used in the study of biological networks. Various biological networks such as Protein interaction networks, Metabolome based reaction network, Gene regulatory network, Gene coexpression network, Protein structure network, Structural brain network, Phylogenetic networks, Ecological networks and Food web networks are described. We also deal with various centrality measures which provide deep insight in the study of biological networks. Applications of biological network analysis in several areas are also discussed.