Two Distinct Post-Mortem Network Dynamics in Human Tissues: Monotonic Convergence in Skeletal Muscle and Threshold Collapse in Colon, Revealed by Progressive Confound Correction and Full-Trajectory Analysis

Final version of the manuscript. Screening 19 GTEx v8 tissues (N = 14,697) with a layered, confound-aware network framework, we show that most apparent post-mortem network convergence is technical, while three genuine and mechanistically distinct dynamics survive rigorous control: monotonic convergence in skeletal muscle (permutation z = +5.8; verified FOXO/organic-acid-metabolism signature; gated by manner of death), a non-monotonic threshold collapse in colon at ~12 h (distributed, five targeted hypotheses rejected under expression-matched nulls), and a topological dissolution of immune hub structure in thyroid (z = −4.6; compositional confound excluded). Three candidate unifying laws (metabolic, architectural, physical) were tested and rejected under controls exposing their artefacts, establishing that the dynamics are irreducibly tissue-specific. Includes integrated Supplementary Materials (rejected interpretations, attempted external replication, full 19-tissue trajectories, extended methods). Changes from v1: added manner-of-death constraint on muscle convergence; added section on three rejected unifying laws; integrated Supplementary Materials; abstract and discussion compressed.