Distinguishing long non-coding RNAs from protein coding transcripts based on machine learning techniques

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Ciência da Computação, 2017.Dentre as análises que devem ser realizadas nos projetos de sequenciamento, um problema importante é a distinção entre transcritos codificadores de proteinas (PCTs) e RNAs nãocodificadores longos (lncRNAs). Esse trabalho investiga potenciais características dos lncRNAs e propõe dois métodos para distinção dessas duas classes de transcritos (PCTs e lncRNAs). O primeiro método foi proposto com base em máquinas de vetores de suporte (SVM), enquanto o segundo utilizou técnicas de aprendizado semi-supervisionado. O mé- todo utilizando SVM obteve excelentes resultados, quando comparados a outras propostas existentes na literatura. Esse método foi treinado e testado com dados de humanos, camundongos e peixe-zebra, tendo atingido uma acurácia de ≈ 98% com dados de humanos e camundongos, e de ≈ 96% para os dados do peixe-zebra. Ainda, foram criados modelos utilizando várias espécies, que mostraram classificações melhores para outras espécies diferentes daquelas do treinamento, ou seja, mostraram boa capacidade de generalização. Para validar esse método, foram utilizados dados de ratos, porcos e drosófilas, além de dados de RNA-seq de humanos, gorilas e macacos. Essa validação atingiu uma acurácia de mais de 85%, em todos os casos. Por fim, esse método foi capaz de identificar duas sequências dentro do Swiss-Prot que puderam ser reanotadas. O método baseado em aprendizado semi-supervisionado foi treinado e testado com dados de humanos, camundongos, ornitorrincos, galinhas, gambás, orangotangos e rãs, tendo sido utilizadas cinco técnicas de aprendizado semi-supervisionado. A contribuição desse método foi que ele permitiu a redução do tamanho do conjunto de dados classificados, utilizados no treinamento. No melhor caso, somente 2 sequências bem anotadas foram usadas no treinamento, o que, comparado com outras ferramentas disponíveis na literatura, indica um ganho expressivo. A acurácia obtida pelo método nos melhores casos foram de ≈ 95% para dados de humanos e camundongos, ≈ 90% para dados de galinhas, gambás e orangutangos, e ≈ 80% para dados de ornitorrincos e rãs. Dados de RNA-seq foram utilizados para teste, tendo sido obtida acurácia de mais de 95%. Esses dados foram utilizados para treinamento dos modelos de orangotango e de rã, que também apresentaram acurácias excelentes.Among the analyses that have to be performed in sequencing projects, an important problem to be addressed is the distinction of protein coding transcripts (PCTs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA). This work investigates potential characteristics of the lncRNAs and proposes two methods for distinguishing these two classes of transcripts (PCTs and lncRNAs). The first methods was based on Support Vector Machine (SVM), while the second one used semi-supervised learning techniques. The SVM based method obtained excellent results when compared to other methods in the literature. This method was trained and tested with data from human, mouse and zebrafish, and reached accuracy of ≈ 98% for human and mouse data, and ≈ 96% for zebrafish data. Besides, models with multiple species were created, which improved the classification for species different from those used in the training phase, i.e., these models could also be used in the classification of species different from those that were used in the training phase. To validate this method, data from rat, pig and drosophila, and RNA-seq data from humans, gorillas and macaque were used. This validation reached an accuracy of more than 85% for all the species. Finally, this method was able to identify two sequences within the Swiss-Prot database that were reannotated. The semi-supervised based method was trained and tested with data from human, mouse, platypus, chicken, opossum, orangutan and xenopus, in five semi-supervised learning techniques. The contribution of this method was the reduction of the size of the classified training data set. In the best scenario, only two annotated sequences were used in the training phase, which is an expressive gain when compared to other tools available in the literature. Accuracies obtained by the method in the best cases were ≈ 95% for human and mouse datasets, ≈ 90% for chicken, opossum and orangutan datasets, and ≈ 80% for data platypus and xenopus datasets. RNA-seq data were used for testing, having obtained more than 95% of accuracy. This data was used to train the orangutan and xenopus models, also leading to an excellent accuracy

Insights into the Evolution of small nucleolar RNAs: Prediction, Comparison, Annotation

Over the last decades, the formerly irrevocable believe that proteins are the only key-factors in the complex regulatory machinery of a cell was crushed by a plethora of findings in all major eukaryotic lineages. These suggested a rugged landscape in the eukaryotic genome consist- ing of sequential, overlapping, or even bi-directional transcripts and myriads of regulatory elements. The vast part of the genome is indeed transcribed into an RNA intermediate, but solely a small fraction is finally translated into functional proteins. The sweeping majority, however, is either degraded or functions as a non-protein coding RNA (ncRNA). Due to continuous developments in experimental and computational research, the variety of ncRNA classes grew larger and larger, ranging from key-processes in the cellular lifespan to regulatory processes that are driven and guided by ncRNAs. The bioinformatical part pri- marily concentrates on the prediction, annotation, and extraction of characteristic properties of novel ncRNAs. Due to conservation of sequence and/or structure, this task is often deter- mined by an homology-search that utilizes information about functional, and hence conserved regions, as an indicator. This thesis focuses mainly on a special class of ncRNAs, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). These abundant molecules are mainly responsible for the guidance of 2’-O-ribose-methylations and pseudouridylations in different types of RNAs, such as ribosomal and spliceosomal RNAs. Although the relevance of single modifications is still rather unclear, the elimination of a bunch of modifications is shown to cause severe effects, including lethality. Several de novo prediction programs have been published over the last years and a substantial amount of publicly available snoRNA databases has originated. Normally, these are restricted to a small amount of species and a collection of experimentally extracted snoRNA. The detection of snoRNAs by means of wet lab experiments and/or de novo prediction tools is generally time consuming (wet lab) and a quite tedious task (identification of snoRNA-specific characteristics). The snoRNA annotation pipeline snoStrip was developed with the intention to circumvent these obstacles. It therefore utilizes a homology-based search procedure to reliably predict snoRNA genes in genomic sequences. In a subsequent step, all candidates are filtered with respect to specific sequence motifs and secondary structures. In a functional analysis, poten- tial target sites are predicted in ribosomal and spliceosomal RNA sequences. In contrast to de novo prediction tools, snoStrip focuses on the extension of the known snoRNA world to uncharted organisms and the mapping and unification of the existing diversity of snoRNAs into functional, homologous families. The pipeline is properly suited to analyze a manifold set of organisms in search for their snoRNAome in short timescales. This offers the opportunity to generate large scale analyses over whole eukaryotic kingdoms to gain insights into the evolutionary history of these spe- cial ncRNA molecules. A set of experimentally validated snoRNA genes in Deuterostomia and Fungi were starting points for highly comprehensive surveys searching and analyzing the snoRNA repertoire in these two major eukaryotic clades. In both cases, the snoStrip pipeline proved itself as a fast and reliable tool and collected thousands of snoRNA genes in nearly 200 organisms. Additionally, the Interaction Conservation Index (ICI), which is am- plified to additionally work on single lineages, provides a convenient measure to analyze and evaluate the conservation of snoRNA-targetRNA interactions across different species. The massive amount of data and the possibility to score the conservation of predicted interactions constitute the main pillars to gain an extraordinary insight into the evolutionary history of snoRNAs on both the sequence and the functional level. A substantial part of the snoR- NAome is traceable down to the root of both eukaryotic lineages and might indicate an even more ancient origin of these snoRNAs. However, a plenitude of lineage specific innovation and deletion events are also discernible. Due to its automated detection of homologous and functionally related snoRNA sequences, snoStrip identified extraordinary target switches in fungi. These unveiled a coupled evolutionary history of several snoRNA families that were previously thought to be independent. Although these findings are exceedingly interesting, the broad majority of snoRNA families is found to show remarkable conservation of the se- quence and the predicted target interactions. On two occasions, this thesis will shift its focus from a genuine snoRNA inspection to an analysis of introns. Both investigations, however, are still conducted under an evolutionary viewpoint. In case of the ubiquitously present U3 snoRNA, functional genes in a notable amount of fungi are found to be disrupted by U2-dependent introns. The set of previously known U3 genes is considerably enlarged by an adapted snoStrip-search procedure. Intron- disrupted genes are found in several fungal lineages, while their precise insertion points within the snoRNA-precursor are located in a small and homologous region. A potential targetRNA of snoRNA genes, U6 snRNA, is also found to contain intronic sequences. Within this work, U6 genes are detected and annotated in nearly all fungal organisms. Although a few U6 intron- carrying genes have been known before, the widespread of these findings and the diversity regarding the particular insertion points are surprising. Those U6 genes are commonly found to contain more than just one intron. In both cases of intron-disrupted non-coding RNA genes, the detected RNA molecules seem to be functional and the intronic sequences show remarkable sequence conservation for both their splice sites and the branch site. In summary, the snoStrip pipeline is shown to be a reliable and fast prediction tool that works on homology-based search principles. Large scale analyses on whole eukaryotic lineages become feasible on short notice. Furthermore, the automated detection of functionally related but not yet mapped snoRNA families adds a new layer of information. Based on surveys covering the evolutionary history of Fungi and Deuterostomia, profound insights into the evolutionary history of this ncRNA class are revealed suggesting ancient origin for a main part of the snoRNAome. Lineage specific innovation and deletion events are also found to occur at a large number of distinct timepoints

Genome-wide identification of non-coding RNAs in Komagatella pastoris str. GS115

The methylotrophic yeast Komagatella pastoris is a relevant bioengineering platform for protein synthesis. Even though non-coding RNAs are well known to be key players in the control of gene expression no comprehensive annotation of non-coding RNAs has been reported for this species. We combine here published RNA-seq data with a wide array of homology based annotation tools and de novo gene predictions to compile the non-coding RNAs in K. pastoris