14,122 research outputs found
Gene Subset Selection Approaches Based on Linear Separability
We address the concept of linear separability of gene expression data sets with respect to two classes, which has been recently studied in the literature. The problem is to efficiently find all pairs of genes which induce a linear separation of the data. We study the Containment Angle (CA) defined on the unit circle for a linearly separating gene-pair (LS-pair) as an alternative to the paired t-test ranking function for gene selection. Using the CA we also show empirically that a given classifier\u27s error is related to the degree of linear separability of a given data set. Finally we propose gene subset selection methods based on the CA ranking function for LS-pairs and a ranking function for linearly separation genes (LS-genes), and which select only among LS-genes and LS-pairs. Overall, our proposed methods give better results in terms of subset sizes and classification accuracy when compared to well-performing methods, on many gene expression data sets
DSL: Discriminative Subgraph Learning via Sparse Self-Representation
The goal in network state prediction (NSP) is to classify the global state
(label) associated with features embedded in a graph. This graph structure
encoding feature relationships is the key distinctive aspect of NSP compared to
classical supervised learning. NSP arises in various applications: gene
expression samples embedded in a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network,
temporal snapshots of infrastructure or sensor networks, and fMRI coherence
network samples from multiple subjects to name a few. Instances from these
domains are typically ``wide'' (more features than samples), and thus, feature
sub-selection is required for robust and generalizable prediction. How to best
employ the network structure in order to learn succinct connected subgraphs
encompassing the most discriminative features becomes a central challenge in
NSP. Prior work employs connected subgraph sampling or graph smoothing within
optimization frameworks, resulting in either large variance of quality or weak
control over the connectivity of selected subgraphs.
In this work we propose an optimization framework for discriminative subgraph
learning (DSL) which simultaneously enforces (i) sparsity, (ii) connectivity
and (iii) high discriminative power of the resulting subgraphs of features. Our
optimization algorithm is a single-step solution for the NSP and the associated
feature selection problem. It is rooted in the rich literature on
maximal-margin optimization, spectral graph methods and sparse subspace
self-representation. DSL simultaneously ensures solution interpretability and
superior predictive power (up to 16% improvement in challenging instances
compared to baselines), with execution times up to an hour for large instances.Comment: 9 page
Bayesian Gene Set Analysis
Gene expression microarray technologies provide the simultaneous measurements
of a large number of genes. Typical analyses of such data focus on the
individual genes, but recent work has demonstrated that evaluating changes in
expression across predefined sets of genes often increases statistical power
and produces more robust results. We introduce a new methodology for
identifying gene sets that are differentially expressed under varying
experimental conditions. Our approach uses a hierarchical Bayesian framework
where a hyperparameter measures the significance of each gene set. Using
simulated data, we compare our proposed method to alternative approaches, such
as Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Gene Set Analysis (GSA). Our
approach provides the best overall performance. We also discuss the application
of our method to experimental data based on p53 mutation status
Transcription Factor-DNA Binding Via Machine Learning Ensembles
We present ensemble methods in a machine learning (ML) framework combining
predictions from five known motif/binding site exploration algorithms. For a
given TF the ensemble starts with position weight matrices (PWM's) for the
motif, collected from the component algorithms. Using dimension reduction, we
identify significant PWM-based subspaces for analysis. Within each subspace a
machine classifier is built for identifying the TF's gene (promoter) targets
(Problem 1). These PWM-based subspaces form an ML-based sequence analysis tool.
Problem 2 (finding binding motifs) is solved by agglomerating k-mer (string)
feature PWM-based subspaces that stand out in identifying gene targets. We
approach Problem 3 (binding sites) with a novel machine learning approach that
uses promoter string features and ML importance scores in a classification
algorithm locating binding sites across the genome. For target gene
identification this method improves performance (measured by the F1 score) by
about 10 percentage points over the (a) motif scanning method and (b) the
coexpression-based association method. Top motif outperformed 5 component
algorithms as well as two other common algorithms (BEST and DEME). For
identifying individual binding sites on a benchmark cross species database
(Tompa et al., 2005) we match the best performer without much human
intervention. It also improved the performance on mammalian TFs.
The ensemble can integrate orthogonal information from different weak
learners (potentially using entirely different types of features) into a
machine learner that can perform consistently better for more TFs. The TF gene
target identification component (problem 1 above) is useful in constructing a
transcriptional regulatory network from known TF-target associations. The
ensemble is easily extendable to include more tools as well as future PWM-based
information.Comment: 33 page
Top scoring pairs for feature selection in machine learning and applications to cancer outcome prediction
<b>Background</b>
The widely used k top scoring pair (k-TSP) algorithm is a simple yet powerful parameter-free classifier. It owes its success in many cancer microarray datasets to an effective feature selection algorithm that is based on relative expression ordering of gene pairs. However, its general robustness does not extend to some difficult datasets, such as those involving cancer outcome prediction, which may be due to the relatively simple voting scheme used by the classifier. We believe that the performance can be enhanced by separating its effective feature selection component and combining it with a powerful classifier such as the support vector machine (SVM). More generally the top scoring pairs generated by the k-TSP ranking algorithm can be used as a dimensionally reduced subspace for other machine learning classifiers.<p></p>
<b>Results</b>
We developed an approach integrating the k-TSP ranking algorithm (TSP) with other machine learning methods, allowing combination of the computationally efficient, multivariate feature ranking of k-TSP with multivariate classifiers such as SVM. We evaluated this hybrid scheme (k-TSP+SVM) in a range of simulated datasets with known data structures. As compared with other feature selection methods, such as a univariate method similar to Fisher's discriminant criterion (Fisher), or a recursive feature elimination embedded in SVM (RFE), TSP is increasingly more effective than the other two methods as the informative genes become progressively more correlated, which is demonstrated both in terms of the classification performance and the ability to recover true informative genes. We also applied this hybrid scheme to four cancer prognosis datasets, in which k-TSP+SVM outperforms k-TSP classifier in all datasets, and achieves either comparable or superior performance to that using SVM alone. In concurrence with what is observed in simulation, TSP appears to be a better feature selector than Fisher and RFE in some of the cancer datasets.<p></p>
<b>Conclusions</b>
The k-TSP ranking algorithm can be used as a computationally efficient, multivariate filter method for feature selection in machine learning. SVM in combination with k-TSP ranking algorithm outperforms k-TSP and SVM alone in simulated datasets and in some cancer prognosis datasets. Simulation studies suggest that as a feature selector, it is better tuned to certain data characteristics, i.e. correlations among informative genes, which is potentially interesting as an alternative feature ranking method in pathway analysis
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