Multiple Graph Edit Distance - Simultaneous Topological Alignment of Multiple Protein-Protein Interaction Networks with an Evolutionary Algorithm

Motivation : We address the problem of multiple protein-protein interaction (PPI) network alignment. Given a set of such networks for different species we might ask how much the network topology is conserved throughout evolution. Solving this problem will help to derive a subset of interactions that is conserved over multiple species thus forming a 'core interactome'. Methods : We model the problem as Topological Multiple one-to-one Network Alignment (TMNA), where we aim to minimize the total Graph Edit Distance (GED) between pairs of the input networks. Here, the GED between two graphs is the number of deleted and inserted edges that are required to make one graph isomorphic to another. By minimizing the GED we indirectly maximize the number of edges that are aligned in multiple networks simultaneously. However, computing an optimal GED value is computationally intractable. We thus propose an evolutionary algorithm and developed a software tool, GEDEVO-M, which is able to align multiple PPI networks using topological information only. We demonstrate the power of our approach by computing a maximal common subnetwork for a set of bacterial and eukaryotic PPI networks. GEDEVO-M thus provides great potential for computing the 'core interactome' of different species.