Aggregation of topological motifs in the Escherichia coli transcriptional regulatory network

Background: Transcriptional regulation of cellular functions is carried out through a complex network of interactions among transcription factors and the promoter regions of genes and operons regulated by them.To better understand the system-level function of such networks simplification of their architecture was previously achieved by identifying the motifs present in the network, which are small, overrepresented, topologically distinct regulatory interaction patterns (subgraphs). However, the interaction of such motifs with each other, and their form of integration into the full network has not been previously examined. Results: By studying the transcriptional regulatory network of the bacterium, Escherichia coli, we demonstrate that the two previously identified motif types in the network (i.e., feed-forward loops and bi-fan motifs) do not exist in isolation, but rather aggregate into homologous motif clusters that largely overlap with known biological functions. Moreover, these cl...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Radu Dobrin, Qasim K. Beg, Albert-László Barabási, Zoltán N. Oltvai
• Keywords: BMCBI 2004, Complex Networks, Homologous Motif Clusters, Transcriptional Regulatory Network