Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?

Recent advances have provided a first experimental protein interaction map of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum, which appears to be remotely related to interactomes of other eukaryotes. Here, we present a comparative topological analysis of this experimentally determined web with a network o...

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Main Author: Stefan Wuchty
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2007-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1829176?pdf=render
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author Stefan Wuchty
author_facet Stefan Wuchty
author_sort Stefan Wuchty
collection DOAJ
description Recent advances have provided a first experimental protein interaction map of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum, which appears to be remotely related to interactomes of other eukaryotes. Here, we present a comparative topological analysis of this experimentally determined web with a network of conserved interactions between proteins in S. cerevisiae, C. elegans and D. melanogaster that have an ortholog in Plasmodium. Focusing on experimental interactions, we find a significant presence of a "rich-club," a topological characteristic that features an "oligarchy" of highly connected proteins being intertwined with one another. In complete contrast, the network of interologs and particularly the web of evolutionary-conserved interactions in P. falciparum lack this feature. This observation prompts the question of whether this result points to a topological signature of the parasite's biology, since experimentally obtained interactions widely cover parasite-specific functions. Significantly, hub proteins that appear in such an oligarchy revolve around invasion functions, shaping an island of parasite-specific activities in a sea of evolutionary inherited interactions. This presence of a biologically unprecedented network feature in the human malaria parasite might be an artifact of the quality and the methods to obtain interaction data in this organism. Yet, the observation that rich-club proteins have distinctive and statistically significant functions that revolve around parasite-specific activities point to a topological signature of a parasitic life style.
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spelling doaj.art-80b43b7cd9284ac8a26b36bbe60ba1ab2022-12-21T19:42:15ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032007-01-0123e33510.1371/journal.pone.0000335Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?Stefan WuchtyRecent advances have provided a first experimental protein interaction map of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum, which appears to be remotely related to interactomes of other eukaryotes. Here, we present a comparative topological analysis of this experimentally determined web with a network of conserved interactions between proteins in S. cerevisiae, C. elegans and D. melanogaster that have an ortholog in Plasmodium. Focusing on experimental interactions, we find a significant presence of a "rich-club," a topological characteristic that features an "oligarchy" of highly connected proteins being intertwined with one another. In complete contrast, the network of interologs and particularly the web of evolutionary-conserved interactions in P. falciparum lack this feature. This observation prompts the question of whether this result points to a topological signature of the parasite's biology, since experimentally obtained interactions widely cover parasite-specific functions. Significantly, hub proteins that appear in such an oligarchy revolve around invasion functions, shaping an island of parasite-specific activities in a sea of evolutionary inherited interactions. This presence of a biologically unprecedented network feature in the human malaria parasite might be an artifact of the quality and the methods to obtain interaction data in this organism. Yet, the observation that rich-club proteins have distinctive and statistically significant functions that revolve around parasite-specific activities point to a topological signature of a parasitic life style.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1829176?pdf=render
spellingShingle Stefan Wuchty
Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?
PLoS ONE
title Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?
title_full Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?
title_fullStr Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?
title_full_unstemmed Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?
title_short Rich-club phenomenon in the interactome of P. falciparum--artifact or signature of a parasitic life style?
title_sort rich club phenomenon in the interactome of p falciparum artifact or signature of a parasitic life style
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1829176?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT stefanwuchty richclubphenomenonintheinteractomeofpfalciparumartifactorsignatureofaparasiticlifestyle