Partitioning Weighted Metabolic Networks into Maximally Balanced Connected Partitions

Partitioning biological network into smaller components can help in retrieving new information of a particular biological structure. In this research we investigate the problem of partitioning node-weighted metabolic networks into two maximally balanced connected components. The problem of partitioning networks into maximally balanced connected components (MBCP) is an NP hard problem. We apply a variable neighborhood search metaheuristic algorithm for solving MBCP on several metabolic networks and provide experimental results which can be useful for further biological interpretation.