Protein evolution in yeast transcription factor subnetworks

When averaged over the full yeast protein–protein interaction and transcriptional regulatory networks, protein hubs with many interaction partners or regulators tend to evolve significantly more slowly due to increased negative selection. However, genome-wide analysis of protein evolution in the subnetworks of associations involving yeast transcription factors (TFs) reveals that TF hubs do not tend to evolve significantly more slowly than TF non-hubs. This result holds for all four major types of TF hubs: interaction hubs, regulatory in-degree and out-degree hubs, as well as co-regulatory hubs that jointly regulate target genes with many TFs. Furthermore, TF regulatory in-degree hubs tend to evolve significantly more quickly than TF non-hubs. Most importantly, the correlations between evolutionary rate (K(A)/K(S)) and degrees for TFs are significantly more positive than those for generic proteins within the same global protein–protein interaction and transcriptional regulatory networks. Compared to generic protein hubs, TF hubs operate at a higher level in the hierarchical structure of cellular networks, and hence experience additional evolutionary forces (relaxed negative selection or positive selection through network rewiring). The striking difference between the evolution of TF hubs and generic protein hubs demonstrates that components within the same global network can be governed by distinct organizational and evolutionary principles.