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Summary: A natural class of robust networks
Maximino Aldana*
and Philippe Cluzel*
*The James Franck Institute and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
Edited by Peter G. Wolynes, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and approved May 1, 2003 (received for review November 6, 2002)
As biological studies shift from molecular description to system
analysis we need to identify the design principles of large intra-
cellular networks. In particular, without knowing the molecular
details, we want to determine how cells reliably perform essential
intracellular tasks. Recent analyses of signaling pathways and
regulatory transcription networks have revealed a common net-
work architecture, termed scale-free topology. Although the struc-
tural properties of such networks have been thoroughly studied,
their dynamical properties remain largely unexplored. We present
a prototype for the study of dynamical systems to predict the
functional robustness of intracellular networks against variations
of their internal parameters. We demonstrate that the dynamical
robustness of these complex networks is a direct consequence of
their scale-free topology. By contrast, networks with homoge-
neous random topologies require fine-tuning of their internal
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