netboost

Inferring network mechanisms: The Drosophila melanogaster protein interaction network; Middendorf, Ziv, and Wiggins

PNAS v102, #9 (2005)

Naturally occurring networks exhibit quantitative features revealing underlying growth mechanisms. Numerous network mechanisms have recently been proposed to reproduce specific properties such as degree distributions or clustering coefficients. We present a method for inferring the mechanism most accurately capturing a given network topology, exploiting discriminative tools from machine learning. The Drosophila melanogaster protein network is confidently and robustly (to noise and training data subsampling) classified as a duplication–mutation–complementation network over preferential attachment, small-world, and a duplication–mutation mechanism without complementation. Systematic classification, rather than statistical study of specific properties, provides a discriminative approach to understand the design of complex networks