Platform

We have implemented a graph layout algorithm of C. Walshaw as a plug-in in the Cytoscape bioinformatics software platform. The algorithm combines traditional force-directed placement of graphs with an efficient multilevel framework in order to generate clear and aesthetic layouts. It is targeted especially at displaying large graphs with several thousands of nodes. Our plug-in, named Multilevel Layout Plugin (or MLLP) works by generating a set of increasingly coarser graphs and applies force-directed placement to each level and advances gradually towards final layout. The algorithm works in reasonable time and is robust for different kinds of graphs to be drawn. Availability: MLLP is released under GNU General Public License and is available a