Law of localization in chemical reaction networks

Abstract

In living cells, chemical reactions are connected by sharing their products and substrates, and form complex networks, e.g. metabolic pathways. Here we developed a theory to predict the sensitivity, i.e. the responses of concentrations and fluxes to perturbations of enzymes, from network structure alone. Responses turn out to exhibit two characteristic patterns, $localization$ and $hierarchy$. We present a general theorem connecting sensitivity with network topology that explains these characteristic patterns. Our results imply that network topology is an origin of biological robustness. Finally, we suggest a strategy to determine real networks from experimental measurements.