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Robustness of the p53 network and biological hackers
Author(s) -
Dartnell Lewis,
Simeonidis Evangelos,
Hubank Michael,
Tsoka Sophia,
Bogle I. David L.,
Papageorgiou Lazaros G.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.03.101
Subject(s) - robustness (evolution) , computer science , apoptosis , computer network , computational biology , network architecture , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , gene , genetics
The p53 protein interaction network is crucial in regulating the metazoan cell cycle and apoptosis. Here, the robustness of the p53 network is studied by analyzing its degeneration under two modes of attack. Linear Programming is used to calculate average path lengths among proteins and the network diameter as measures of functionality. The p53 network is found to be robust to random loss of nodes, but vulnerable to a targeted attack against its hubs, as a result of its architecture. The significance of the results is considered with respect to mutational knockouts of proteins and the directed attacks mounted by tumour inducing viruses.