Identifying the overlapping complexes in protein interaction networks.

Identification of protein complexes in large interaction networks is crucial to understanding principles of cellular organisation and predict protein functions. In this paper, a new algorithm of Identifying Protein Complexes based on Maximal Clique Extension (IPC-MCE) is proposed. The maximal clique is considered as the core of the protein complex. Proteins in a complex are classed into core vertices and peripheral vertices. The relation between the core vertices and peripheral vertices is measured by the Interaction Probability. The algorithm IPC-MCE is applied to the protein interaction network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Many well-known protein complexes are detected.