Mining DNA microarray data using a novel approach based on graph theory

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Abstract
The recent demonstration that biochemical pathways from diverse organisms are arranged in scale‐free, rather than random, systems [Jeong et al., Nature 407 (2000) 651–654], emphasizes the importance of developing methods for the identification of biochemical nexuses – the nodes within biochemical pathways that serve as the major input/output hubs, and therefore represent potentially important targets for modulation. Here we describe a bioinformatics approach that identifies candidate nexuses for biochemical pathways without requiring functional gene annotation; we also provide proof‐of‐principle experiments to support this technique. This approach, called Nexxus, may lead to the identification of new signal transduction pathways and targets for drug design.