Slow poisoning and destruction of networks: Edge proximity and its implications for biological and infrastructure networks

Abstract

We propose a network metric, edge proximity, P(e), which demonstrates the importance of specific edges in a network, hitherto not captured by existing network metrics. The effects of removing edges with high P(e) might initially seem inconspicuous but are eventually shown to be very harmful for networks. Compared to existing strategies, the removal of edges by P(e) leads to a remarkable increase in the diameter and average shortest path length in undirected real and random networks till the first disconnection and well beyond. P(e) can be consistently used to rupture the network into two nearly equal parts, thus presenting a very potent strategy to greatly harm a network. Targeting by P(e) causes notable efficiency loss in U.S. and European power grid networks. P(e) identifies proteins with essential cellular functions in protein-protein interaction networks. It pinpoints regulatory neural connections and important portions of the neural and brain networks, respectively. Energy flow interactions identified by P(e) form the backbone of long food web chains. Finally, we scrutinize the potential of P(e) in edge controllability dynamics of directed networks.

Topologically Inspired Walks on Randomly Connected Landscapes With Correlated Fitness

“…A major aspect of network science is the intricate role of topology, as quantified by various metrics [39][40][41][42], which plays a prime part in the characterization, design and functioning of such systems. However, while networks have been used in a variety of biological problems [43][44][45][46][47][48], they have seen only limited application [4,5] in fitness landscapes and adaptive walks on them.…”

Role of a 19S Proteasome Subunit- PSMD10Gankyrin in Neurogenesis of Human Neural Progenitor Cells

“…Edges with the highest values of edge betweenness are (nefm - il1b), (il1b - artn), (mapk1 - nefm), (ptpn3 - mapk1), (lif - artn), (neurog1 - lif) etc. Edges with the highest values of edge proximity (12) consistently have artn, neurog1 and nefm at one of their ends. To extract the biological information from these edges, we used Uniprot to annotate the nodes.…”

Residue interaction dynamics in Vaucheria aureochrome1 light‐oxygen‐voltage: Bridging theory and experiments

“…Edge proximity of an edge, in a network, is a measure to identify edges whose subsequent removal results in a disconnected network, which in return leads to a significant loss in communication within a network 25 . Mathematically, edge proximity, P k , of an edge k is defined as …”