Protein Interaction Networks are Fragile against Random Attacks and Robust against Malicious Attacks

TL;DR

This study reveals that protein interaction networks are more fragile against random attacks but more robust against malicious attacks, due to their modular structure, contrasting with other networks like the Internet.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of protein network robustness, highlighting the contrasting effects of random rewiring and the role of modularity.

Findings

Random rewiring increases protein network robustness.

Protein networks are more fragile than their rewired surrogates.

Modular structure explains the fragility and robustness patterns.

Abstract

The capacity to resist attacks from the environment is crucial to the survival of all organisms. We quantitatively analyze the susceptibility of protein interaction networks of numerous organisms to random and malicious attacks. We find for all organisms studied that random rewiring improves protein network robustness, so that actual networks are more fragile than rewired surrogates. This unexpected fragility contrasts with the behavior of networks such as the Internet, whose robustness decreases with random rewiring. We trace this surprising effect to the modular structure of protein networks.