Multi-hierarchical profiling: an emerging and quantitative approach to characterizing diverse biological networks

Multi-hierarchical profiling may offer valuable insights into the structural stability and functional direction of biological networks in cellular development, pathological process and disease variation. Owing to the emergence of several new techniques, such as bioinformatics for omics data, structural biology and structural bioinformatics, the pace of network hierarchical research has accelerated a lot in recent years. Here, we discuss and compare the techniques available for quantifying multilevel hierarchies, with a focus on their features, capabilities and drawbacks when used for different applications. Then, we classify these methods into three types: topological spatial-scales, multilevel hierarchical control and feature ordering. We observe that challenges and limitations do exist in functional hierarchical identification. And, we also provide useful suggestions on how to analyze the dynamic data of complex network studies.