Networks provide a very useful way to describe a wide range of different data types in biology, physics and elsewhere. Apart from providing a convenient tool to visualize highly dependent data, networks allow stringent mathematical and statistical analysis. In recent years, much progress has been achieved to interpret various types of biological network data such as transcriptomic, metabolomic and protein interaction data as well as epidemiological data. Of particular interest is to understand the organization, complexity and dynamics of biological networks and how these are influenced by network evolution and functionality. This book reviews and explores statistical, mathematical and evolutionary theory and tools in the understanding of biological networks. The book is divided into comprehensive and self-contained chapters, each of which focuses on an important biological network type, explains concepts and theory and illustrates how these can be used to obtain insight into biologically relevant processes and questions. There are chapters covering metabolic, transcriptomic, protein interaction and epidemiological networks as well as chapters that deal with theoretical and conceptual material. The authors, who contribute to the book, are active, highly regarded and well-known in the network community.

Networks provide a very useful way to describe a wide range of different data types in biology, physics and elsewhere. Apart from providing a convenient tool to visualize highly dependent data, networks allow stringent mathematical and statistical analysis. In recent years, much progress has been achieved to interpret various types of biological network data such as transcriptomic, metabolomic and protein interaction data as well as epidemiological data. Of particular interest is to understand the organization, complexity and dynamics of biological networks and how these are influenced by network evolution and functionality. This book reviews and explores statistical, mathematical and evolutionary theory and tools in the understanding of biological networks. The book is divided into comprehensive and self-contained chapters, each of which focuses on an important biological network type, explains concepts and theory and illustrates how these can be used to obtain insight into biologically relevant processes and questions. There are chapters covering metabolic, transcriptomic, protein interaction and epidemiological networks as well as chapters that deal with theoretical and conceptual material. The authors, who contribute to the book, are active, highly regarded and well-known in the network community. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: A Network Analysis Primer (350 KB). Contents: A Network Analysis Primer (M P H Stumpf & C Wiuf); Evolutionary Analysis of Protein Interaction Networks (C Wiuf & O Ratmann); Motifs in Biological Networks (F Schreiber & H SchwAbbermeyer); Bayesian Analysis of Biological Networks: Clusters, Motifs, Cross-Species Correlations (J Berg & M Lnssig); Network Concepts and Epidemiological Models (R R Kao & I Z Kiss); Evolutionary Origin and Consequences of Design Properties of Metabolic Networks (T Pfeiffer & S Bonhoeffer); Protein Interactions from an Evolutionary Perspective (F Pazos & A Valencia); Statistical Null Models for Biological Network Analysis (W P Kelly et al.). Readership: Academics, researchers, postgraduates and advanced undergraduates in bioinformatics. Biologists, mathematicians/statisticians, physicists and computer scientists.

An introduction to biological networks and methods for their analysis Analysis of Biological Networks is the first book of its kind to provide readers with a comprehensive introduction to the structural analysis of biological networks at the interface of biology and computer science. The book begins with a brief overview of biological networks and graph theory/graph algorithms and goes on to explore: global network properties, network centralities, network motifs, network clustering, Petri nets, signal transduction and gene regulation networks, protein interaction networks, metabolic networks, phylogenetic networks, ecological networks, and correlation networks. Analysis of Biological Networks is a self-contained introduction to this important research topic, assumes no expert knowledge in computer science or biology, and is accessible to professionals and students alike. Each chapter concludes with a summary of main points and with exercises for readers to test their understanding of the material presented. Additionally, an FTP site with links to author-provided data for the book is available for deeper study. This book is suitable as a resource for researchers in computer science, biology, bioinformatics, advanced biochemistry, and the life sciences, and also serves as an ideal reference text for graduate-level courses in bioinformatics and biological research.

The book introduces to the reader a number of cutting edge statistical methods which can e used for the analysis of genomic, proteomic and metabolomic data sets. In particular in the field of systems biology, researchers are trying to analyze as many data as possible in a given biological system (such as a cell or an organ). The appropriate statistical evaluation of these large scale data is critical for the correct interpretation and different experimental approaches require different approaches for the statistical analysis of these data. This book is written by biostatisticians and mathematicians but aimed as a valuable guide for the experimental researcher as well computational biologists who often lack an appropriate background in statistical analysis.

In the field of molecular evolution, inferences about past evolutionary events are made using molecular data from currently living species. With the availability of genomic data from multiple related species, molecular evolution has become one of the most active and fastest growing fields of study in genomics and bioinformatics. Most studies in molecular evolution rely heavily on statistical procedures based on stochastic process modelling and advanced computational methods including high-dimensional numerical optimization and Markov Chain Monte Carlo. This book provides an overview of the statistical theory and methods used in studies of molecular evolution. It includes an introductory section suitable for readers that are new to the field, a section discussing practical methods for data analysis, and more specialized sections discussing specific models and addressing statistical issues relating to estimation and model choice. The chapters are written by the leaders of field and they will take the reader from basic introductory material to the state-of-the-art statistical methods. This book is suitable for statisticians seeking to learn more about applications in molecular evolution and molecular evolutionary biologists with an interest in learning more about the theory behind the statistical methods applied in the field. The chapters of the book assume no advanced mathematical skills beyond basic calculus, although familiarity with basic probability theory will help the reader. Most relevant statistical concepts are introduced in the book in the context of their application in molecular evolution, and the book should be accessible for most biology graduate students with an interest in quantitative methods and theory. Rasmus Nielsen received his Ph.D. form the University of California at Berkeley in 1998 and after a postdoc at Harvard University, he assumed a faculty position in Statistical Genomics at Cornell University. He is currently an Ole Rømer Fellow at the University of Copenhagen and holds a Sloan Research Fellowship. His is an associate editor of the Journal of Molecular Evolution and has published more than fifty original papers in peer-reviewed journals on the topic of this book. From the reviews: "...Overall this is a very useful book in an area of increasing importance." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society "I find Statistical Methods in Molecular Evolution very interesting and useful. It delves into problems that were considered very difficult just several years ago...the book is likely to stimulate the interest of statisticians that are unaware of this exciting field of applications. It is my hope that it will also help the 'wet lab' molecular evolutionist to better understand mathematical and statistical methods." Marek Kimmel for the Journal of the American Statistical Association, September 2006 "Who should read this book? We suggest that anyone who deals with molecular data (who does not?) and anyone who asks evolutionary questions (who should not?) ought to consult the relevant chapters in this book." Dan Graur and Dror Berel for Biometrics, September 2006 "Coalescence theory facilitates the merger of population genetics theory with phylogenetic approaches, but still, there are mostly two camps: phylogeneticists and population geneticists. Only a few people are moving freely between them. Rasmus Nielsen is certainly one of these researchers, and his work so far has merged many population genetic and phylogenetic aspects of biological research under the umbrella of molecular evolution. Although Nielsen did not contribute a chapter to his book, his work permeates all its chapters. This book gives an overview of his interests and current achievements in molecular evolution. In short, this book should be on your bookshelf." Peter Beerli for Evolution, 60(2), 2006

We live in a world of networks, where everything is amazingly close to everything else. The notion of 'network' turns out to be central to our times: the Internet and WWW are changing our lives; our physical existence is based on various biological networks; we are involved in all-enveloping networks of economic and social relations. Only in the 1990s did physicists begin to explore real networks, both natural and artificial, as evolving systems with intriguingly complex and effective architectures. Progress has been so immediate and astounding that we actually face a new science based on a new set of concepts, and, one may even say, on a new philosophy: the natural philosophy of a small world. Old ideas from mathematics, statistical physics, biology, computer science, and so on take on quite new forms in applications to real evolving networks. - What is common to all networks? - What are the general principles of the organization and evolution of networks? - How do the laws of nature work in communication, biological, and social networks? - What are networks? This book, written by physicists, answers these questions and presents a general insight into the world of networks.

Network thinking and network analysis are rapidly expanding features of ecological research. Network analysis of ecological systems include representations and modelling of the interactions in an ecosystem, in which species or factors are joined by pairwise connections. This book provides an overview of ecological network analysis including generating processes, the relationship between structure and dynamic function, and statistics and models for these networks. Starting with a general introduction to the composition of networks and their characteristics, it includes details on such topics as measures of network complexity, applications of spectral graph theory, how best to include indirect species interactions, and multilayer, multiplex and multilevel networks. Graduate students and researchers who want to develop and understand ecological networks in their research will find this volume inspiring and helpful. Detailed guidance to those already working in network ecology but looking for advice is also included.