The Difference Between Genetic Regulatory Networks and the WWW Structures

We study two kinds of networks: Genetic regulatory networks and the World Wide Web. In the first case we formulate a model including mainly random unbiased gene duplications and mutations. In the second case, the basic moves are website generation and rapid surf-induced link creation (/destruction). The different types of mechanisms reproduce the appropriate observed network properties. We use those to show that different kinds of networks have strongly system dependent macroscopic experimental features. The diverging properties result from dissimilar node and link basic dynamics. The main non-uniform properties include the clustering coefficient, small scale motifs frequency, time correlations, centrality and the connectivity of outgoing links. Some other features are generic: the large scale connectivity distribution of incoming links (scale-free) and the network diameter (small-worlds). The common properties are just the general hallmark of autocatalysis (self enhancing processes), while the specific properties hinge on the specific elementary mechanisms.