Evaluating network inference methods in preserving the topology and complexity of reconstructed genetic networks

Network inference is advancing rapidly, and new methods are proposed on a regular basis. Understanding the advantages and limitations of different network inference methods is key to their effective application in different circumstances. The common structural properties shared by diverse networks naturally pose a challenge when it comes to devising accurate inference methods, but surprisingly, there is a paucity of comparison and evaluation methods. Historically, every new methodology has only been tested against "gold standard" (true-values) purpose-designed synthetic and real-world (validated) biological networks. In this paper we aim to assess the impact of taking into consideration topological and information-theoretic complexity aspects in the evaluation of the final accuracy of an inference procedure. Specifically, we will compare the best inference methods, in both graph-theoretic and information-theoretic terms, for preserving topological properties and the original information content of synthetic and biological networks. New methods for performance comparison are introduced by borrowing ideas from gene set enrichment analysis and by applying concept from algorithmic complexity. Experimental results show that no individual algorithm outperforms all others in all cases, and that the challenging and non-trivial nature of network inference is evident in the struggle of some of the algorithms to turn in a performance that is better than random guesswork. Therefore special care should be taken to suit the method used to the specific purpose. Finally, we show that evaluations from data generated representing different underlying topologies have different signatures that can be used to better choose a network reconstruction method.

DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2016.01.012

Evaluating network inference methods in preserving the topology.pdf