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Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks are the backbone of all processesin living cells. In this work we relate conservation, essentiality andfunctional repertoire of a gene to the connectivity $k$ (i.e., the number ofinteraction links) of the corresponding protein in the PPI network. On a set of42 bacterial genomes of different sizes, and with reasonably separatedevolutionary trajectories, we investigate three issues: i) whether thedistribution of connectivities changes between PPI subnetworks of essential andnonessential genes; ii) how gene conservation, measured both by theevolutionary retention index (ERI) and by evolutionary pressures, is related tothe the connectivity of the corresponding protein; iii) how PPI connectivitiesare modulated by evolutionary and functional relationships, as represented bythe Clusters of Orthologous Genes (COGs). We show that conservation,essentiality and functional specialisation of genes constrain the connectivityof the corresponding proteins in bacterial PPI networks. In particular, weisolate a core of highly connected proteins (with connectivities $k\ge40$),which is ubiquitous among the species considered here -- though mostly visiblein the degree distributions of bacteria with small genomes (less than 1000genes). The genes that belong to this highly connected core are conserved,essential and, in most cases, belong to the COG cluster J, related to ribosomalfunctions and to the processing of genetic information.

Bacterial protein interaction networks: connectivity is ruled by gene conservation, essentiality and function