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Colored motifs reveal computational building blocks in the C. elegans Brain
Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, Claremont, United States; Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4872-1961
2011 (English)In: PLOS ONE, E-ISSN 1932-6203, Vol. 6, no 3, article id e17013Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: Complex networks can often be decomposed into less complex sub-networks whose structures can give hints about the functional organization of the network as a whole. However, these structural motifs can only tell one part of the functional story because in this analysis each node and edge is treated on an equal footing. In real networks, two motifs that are topologically identical but whose nodes perform very different functions will play very different roles in the network. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we combine structural information derived from the topology of the neuronal network of the nematode C. elegans with information about the biological function of these nodes, thus coloring nodes by function. We discover that particular colorations of motifs are significantly more abundant in the worm brain than expected by chance, and have particular computational functions that emphasize the feed-forward structure of information processing in the network, while evading feedback loops. Interneurons are strongly over-represented among the common motifs, supporting the notion that these motifs process and transduce the information from the sensor neurons towards the muscles. Some of the most common motifs identified in the search for significant colored motifs play a crucial role in the system of neurons controlling the worm's locomotion. Conclusions/Significance: The analysis of complex networks in terms of colored motifs combines two independent data sets to generate insight about these networks that cannot be obtained with either data set alone. The method is general and should allow a decomposition of any complex networks into its functional (rather than topological) motifs as long as both wiring and functional information is available. © 2011 Qian et al.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2011. Vol. 6, no 3, article id e17013
Keywords [en]
article, brain function, Caenorhabditis elegans, color, controlled study, decomposition, electrical synapse, interneuron, locomotion, mathematical model, nerve cell network, nonhuman, positive feedback, sensory nerve cell, signal transduction, synapse, adaptation, animal, biology, brain, cytology, metabolism, nerve cell, Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Computational Biology, Nerve Net, Neurons
National Category
Neurosciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-37197DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017013Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-79952348548OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-37197DiVA, id: diva2:1557622
Available from: 2021-05-26 Created: 2021-05-26 Last updated: 2025-10-09Bibliographically approved

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Hintze, Arend

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
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More styles
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