Biological relevance of network motifs

Determine the general biological relevance of network motifs identified in real biological networks.

Background

Network motifs are small subgraphs that occur more frequently than expected in null models and are often interpreted as functional building blocks, with applications ranging from robustness analysis to the design of synthetic gene circuits.

Despite their utility, the authors emphasize that the extent to which motif prevalence reflects genuine biological function (as opposed to byproducts of generative processes or statistical artifacts) remains unresolved.