Abstract: Embodiments for a method of implementing dynamic subgraphs in a graph database by defining vertices of a subgraph descriptively in such a way that the original intent of the content is preserved while the subgraph itself is changing. A database process preserves a “view” of the database as a stored query which will define a subgraph members while the subgraph members are modified, and as opposed to a method in which edges are induced from their vertices to be included in the subgraph, by defining the content of a subgraph descriptively using a database view, vertices which are new and should be contained in the subgraph will automatically be included.

Abstract: Combining a Merkle tree with a graph database by defining a Merkle tree with each node having a hashed value of the metadata for the node and any children of that node, associating non-hashed data with the hashed data for each node, wherein the non-hashed data has an up-pointer from a child node to any of its immediate parent node, and defining bi-directional edges between the nodes of the Merkle tree having a graph database structure to create a reference for the up-pointers associated with each Merkle tree node. The bi-directional edges with up-pointers along with the Merkle tree hash scheme allows efficient traversal of the tree where the hash values indicate non-changed nodes to prevent traversing the database, and further allows efficient path definitions by allowing database processes to walk up edges.