Conservation and comparison of protein interactions across evolution

We share core molecular systems with organisms across the tree of life. Though studying multiple organisms at once, we can find biological signals that rise above experimental noise. Comparative evolutionary analysis is an approach that combines evolutionary and systems biology, in essence, a parallel assay where each organism is a data point. Repeated observation of a feature across multiple organisms increases confidence that the signal reflects biology. However, integrating data from different species adds a layer of complexity to high-throughput analysis. In this dissertation, I will first present a review of the use of comparative evolution in human disease genetics, then a characterization and comparison of different orthology algorithms, and finally the culmination of this work of a high-throughput discovery of stable protein complexes conserved across plants.