Principal Investigator Manolis Kellis (Kamvysselis)
Gene duplication is an important mechanism in the evolution of protein interaction networks. Duplications are followed by the gain and loss of interactions, rewiring the network at some unknown rate. Because rewiring is likely to change the distribution of network motifs within the duplicated interaction set, it should be possible to study network rewiring by tracking the evolution of these motifs. We have developed a mathematical framework that, together with duplication data from comparative genomic and proteomic studies, allows us to infer the connectivity of the preduplication network and the changes in connectivity over time. We focused on the whole-genome duplication (WGD) event in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The model allowed us to predict the frequency of intergene interaction before WGD and the post duplication probabilities of interaction gain and loss. We find that the predicted frequency of self-interactions in the preduplication network is significantly higher than that observed in today's network. This could suggest a structural difference between the modern and ancestral networks, preferential addition or retention of interactions between ohnologs, or selective pressure to preserve duplicates of self-interacting proteins.