The article "The human disease network" by Goh et al. explores the relationship between human genetic disorders and disease genes using a network-based approach. The authors construct a bipartite graph where one set represents all known genetic disorders, and the other set represents all known disease genes in the human genome. They analyze two projections of this graph: the "human disease network" (HDN) and the "disease gene network" (DGN). The HDN connects disorders that share at least one gene associated with both, while the DGN connects disease genes that are implicated in the same disorder. Key findings include: - The HDN shows significant interconnectedness between disorders, indicating shared genetic origins. - Disease genes associated with similar disorders tend to have higher physical interactions and expression profiling similarity, suggesting distinct disease-specific functional modules. - Essential human genes are likely to encode hub proteins and are widely expressed in most tissues, while nonessential disease genes are not and are localized in the functional periphery of the network. - A selection-based model explains the difference between essential and disease genes, predicting that somatic mutations causing diseases should not be peripheral, which is confirmed for cancer genes. The study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the genetic basis of human diseases and highlights the modular nature of cellular networks.The article "The human disease network" by Goh et al. explores the relationship between human genetic disorders and disease genes using a network-based approach. The authors construct a bipartite graph where one set represents all known genetic disorders, and the other set represents all known disease genes in the human genome. They analyze two projections of this graph: the "human disease network" (HDN) and the "disease gene network" (DGN). The HDN connects disorders that share at least one gene associated with both, while the DGN connects disease genes that are implicated in the same disorder. Key findings include: - The HDN shows significant interconnectedness between disorders, indicating shared genetic origins. - Disease genes associated with similar disorders tend to have higher physical interactions and expression profiling similarity, suggesting distinct disease-specific functional modules. - Essential human genes are likely to encode hub proteins and are widely expressed in most tissues, while nonessential disease genes are not and are localized in the functional periphery of the network. - A selection-based model explains the difference between essential and disease genes, predicting that somatic mutations causing diseases should not be peripheral, which is confirmed for cancer genes. The study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the genetic basis of human diseases and highlights the modular nature of cellular networks.