Association results of correlation-based and maximum-entropy methods on biological data from an in silico reaction system (A) and protein contacts (B). (A) Analysis by Pearson’s correlation yields interactions associating all three compounds A, B, and C, in contrast to the partial correlation approach which omits the “false” link between A and C. (Fig 1A based on [21].) (B) Protein contact prediction for the human RAS protein using the correlation-based mutual information, MI, and the maximum-entropy based direct information, DI, (blue and red, respectively). The 150 highest scoring contacts from both methods are plotted on the protein contacts from experimentally determined structure in gray. (Fig 1B based on [6].)