1. A method of determining whether there is a functional relationship between a first cellular constituent and a second cellular constituent, the method comprising: (a) in a computer system, generating a first cellular constituent correlation matrix of a first plurality of correlation coefficients, wherein respective correlation coefficients in said first plurality of correlation coefficients represent a correlation between first cellular constituent abundance measurement data for a pair of cellular constituents from a plurality of organisms subject to a same experimental condition, the respective correlation coefficients in said first plurality of correlation coefficients being computed for a different pair of cellular constituents, wherein the cellular constituents in the first plurality of cellular constituents are selected from a plurality of cellular constituents based on a threshold increase in variance calculated by comparing the variance of the cellular abundance measurement data for a cellular constituent from the plurality of organisms subject to the same experimental condition with the variance of cellular abundance measurement data for a plurality of cellular constituents in the respective plurality of organisms subject to the same experimental condition, wherein said generating of the first cellular constituent correlation matrix is according to a preselected order of cellular constituents in the pairs of cellular constituents for which said first plurality of correlation coefficients is computed, wherein said preselected order of cellular constituents in the pairs of cellular constituents for which said first plurality of correlation coefficients is computed is determined by clustering said first plurality of correlation coefficients, and each said pair of cellular constituents comprising a first cellular constituent and a second cellular constituent; (b) in the computer system, applying the preselected order to generate a second cellular constituent correlation matrix of a second plurality of correlation coefficients, wherein each correlation coefficient in said second plurality of correlation coefficients represents a correlation between second cellular constituent abundance measurement data for said pairs of cellular constituents for which said first plurality of correlation coefficients is computed, and said second cellular constituent abundance measurement data being from each of a plurality of organisms subject to a second experimental condition, said second experimental condition differing from said first experimental condition; (c) optionally repeating step (b) one or more times, each time generating a different cellular constituent correlation matrix of a different plurality of correlation coefficients thereby forming a plurality of cellular constituent correlation matrices, wherein the respective different plurality of correlation coefficients is computed using cellular constituent abundance measurement data from a plurality of organisms, each plurality of organisms being subject to different respective experimental conditions; and wherein when a conserved area among said plurality of cellular constituent correlation matrices is present, a functional relationship between said first cellular constituent and said second constituent is determined to be present; and when a conserved area among said plurality of cellular constituent correlation matrices is not present, a functional relationship between said first cellular constituent and said second constituent is not determined to be present; and (d) outputting to a user interface device, a computer readable storage medium, or a local or remote computer system; or displaying; the cellular constituent correlation matrices, or an indication of whether a functional relationship is determined to be present between said first cellular constituent and said second cellular constituent.