Domain-domain interactions underlying herpesvirus-human protein-protein interaction networks

PLoS One. 2011;6(7):e21724. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021724. Epub 2011 Jul 7.

Abstract

Protein-domains play an important role in mediating protein-protein interactions. Furthermore, the same domain-pairs mediate different interactions in different contexts and in various organisms, and therefore domain-pairs are considered as the building blocks of interactome networks. Here we extend these principles to the host-virus interface and find the domain-pairs that potentially mediate human-herpesvirus interactions. Notably, we find that the same domain-pairs used by other organisms for mediating their interactions underlie statistically significant fractions of human-virus protein inter-interaction networks. Our analysis shows that viral domains tend to interact with human domains that are hubs in the human domain-domain interaction network. This may enable the virus to easily interfere with a variety of mechanisms and processes involving various and different human proteins carrying the relevant hub domain. Comparative genomics analysis provides hints at a molecular mechanism by which the virus acquired some of its interacting domains from its human host.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Herpesviridae / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Interaction Mapping*
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Viral Proteins / chemistry*
  • Viral Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Viral Proteins