Abstract
In a cell or microorganism the processes that generate mass, energy,
information transfer, and cell fate specification are seamlessly integrated
through a complex network of various cellular constituents and reactions.
However, despite the key role these networks play in sustaining various
cellular functions, their large-scale structure is essentially unknown. Here we
present the first systematic comparative mathematical analysis of the metabolic
networks of 43 organisms representing all three domains of life. We show that,
despite significant variances in their individual constituents and pathways,
these metabolic networks display the same topologic scaling properties
demonstrating striking similarities to the inherent organization of complex
non-biological systems. This suggests that the metabolic organization is not
only identical for all living organisms, but complies with the design
principles of robust and error-tolerant scale-free networks, and may represent
a common blueprint for the large-scale organization of interactions among all
cellular constituents.
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