HOW FAR AND HOW FAST CAN ONE MOVE ON NEUTRAL NETWORK?

Abstract

A central theme in systems biology is to reveal the intricate relationship between structure and dynamics of many complex biological networks. Using Boolean models that describe yeast cell cycle process, we developed a unique logic-based theoretical framework to quantitatively determine the structure-dynamics mapping, also known as genotype–phenotype mapping. Moreover, under the dominant inhibition condition, we used a superposition property to show rigorously that the neutral network — the network of all possible structures that encode the same dynamics and are connected via single interaction mutations — forms one giant connected and conductive component. This may help shed light on the evolution landscape of biological networks based on the distance and speed a network can evolve on this neutral network.