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Protein Interaction Network Robustness

Interactive 3D simulation of a scale-free protein-protein interaction network: watch it survive random protein loss but collapse when hub proteins are targeted, with live giant-component and average-degree readouts.

Molecular Biology3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version

Protein-protein interaction networks inside a cell are scale-free: a handful of hub proteins carry a disproportionate share of all interactions, while most proteins connect to only one or two partners. This simulator grows a real Barabási–Albert scale-free network to model that structure in 3D, then lets you knock proteins out one at a time — either uniformly at random or by deliberately targeting the current highest-degree hub — while tracking the size of the surviving giant connected component and the network's average degree live. The result reproduces a landmark finding in network biology: these networks tolerate random protein loss remarkably well but fragment rapidly once their hubs are specifically targeted, which is part of why hub proteins are disproportionately essential genes.

⚙ Under the hood

Grow a scale-free protein-protein interaction network and knock out proteins one at a time — randomly or by targeting hubs — while watching the giant connected component and average degree collapse live.

network biologyprotein interactionscale-free networksystems biologygraph theorymolecular biology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install