Evolutionary and Topological Properties of Genes and Community Structures in Human Gene Regulatory Networks

摘要

Author Summary We found strong relationships between the community structures and evolutionary properties of an acute myeloid leukemia gene regulatory network (GRN) and a general human GRN. Interacting genes tend to have similar evolutionary ages and rates, causing the GRNs to segregate into slowly-evolving ('cold'), old gene communities and rapidly-evolving ('hot'), young gene communities. The coldest, oldest communities are centrally located and are highly enriched for gene groups related to fundamental cellular functions, whereas the hottest, youngest communities are peripheral and enriched for gene groups related to higher order functions.