Ordered Cyclic Motifs Contributes to Dynamic Stability in Biological and Engineered Networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2008)
Summary adapted from from Koon-Kiu (KKY):
This paper studied cyclic motifs (cycles) in biological and
technological networks. A cycle can be characterized by the number of clockwise and counter-clockwise links, the number of pass-through nodes and the number of sources/sinks, etc. Direct counting of cycles of various length suggests a dependence between neighboring links, and such dependence is modeled by an interacting spin model. Fitting to the spin model shows that neighboring links tend to be in opposite directions (antiferromagnetic), resulting in a depletion of feedback loops in networks. Stability analysis concluded that the lack of feedback loop stabilizes the system in terms of perturbation around the fixed point.
Ma’ayan A, Cecchi GA, Wagner J, Rao AR, Iyengar R, Stolovitzky G. Ordered Cyclic Motifs Contributes to Dynamic Stability in Biological and Engineered Networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 19235-40 (2008) PMID: 19033453
http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/19033453/reload=0;jsessionid=aeku6lFJSKlT8wnr9czW.12