Local-community network automata modelling based on length-three-paths for prediction of complex network structures in protein interactomes, food webs and more

From nests to nets intricate wiring diagrams surround the birth and the death of life. Here we show that the same rule of complex network self-organization is valid across different physical scales and allows to predict protein interactions, food web trophic relations and world trade network transitions. This rule, which we named CH2-L3, is a network automaton that is based on paths of length-three and that maximizes internal links in local communities and minimizes external ones, according to a mechanistic model essentially driven by topological neighbourhood information.