Before revision:  In this work we relate conservation, essentiality and functional repertoire of a gene to the connectivity k of the corresponding protein in the PPI networks. Focusing on a set of 42 bacterial species with reasonably separated evolutionary trajectories, we investigate three issues: i) whether the distribution of connectivity values changes between PPI subnetworks of essential and nonessential genes;
After revision:  In this work we relate conservation, essentiality and functional repertoire of a gene to the connectivity k of the corresponding protein in the PPI network. On a set of 42 bacterial species with reasonably separated evolutionary trajectories, we investigate three issues: i) whether the distribution of connectivity values changes between PPI subnetworks of essential and nonessential genes;