Properties Of Essential Genes In The Protein-Protein Interaction Network Of Escherichia Coli From The Perspective Of Network Theory

We studied the impact on local and global quantifiers from network science by removing proteins associated with essential genes. From the network of protein-protein interaction of Escherichia coli, we obtained a relationship between (i) the topological and statistics properties of the network and (ii) the essentiality of genes. The analysis of the community structure showed that a significant number of essential genes were located in a particular community, i. e., sharing the same biological functions. This suggests that for better localization of essential genes should include information on the community structure of the network and its functionality through the Gene Ontology terms.