Mathematical modelling plant signalling networks

During the last two decades, molecular genetic studies and the completion of the sequencing of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome have increased knowledge of hormonal regulation in plants. These signal transduction pathways act in concert through gene regulatory and signalling networks whose main components have begun to be elucidated. Our understanding of the resulting cellular processes is hindered by the complex, and sometimes counter-intuitive, dynamics of the networks, which may be interconnected through feedback controls and cross-regulation. Mathematical modelling provides a valuable tool to investigate such dynamics and to perform in silico experiments that may not be easily carried out in a laboratory. In this article, we firstly review general methods for modelling gene and signalling networks and their application in plants. We then describe specific models of hormonal perception and cross-talk in plants. This sub-cellular analysis paves the way for more comprehensive mathematical studies of hormonal transport and signalling in a multi-scale setting

Detection of compound mode of action by computational integration of whole-genome measurements and genetic perturbations

BACKGROUND: A key problem of drug development is to decide which compounds to evaluate further in expensive clinical trials (Phase I- III). This decision is primarily based on the primary targets and mechanisms of action of the chemical compounds under consideration. Whole-genome expression measurements have shown to be useful for this process but current approaches suffer from requiring either a large number of mutant experiments or a detailed understanding of the regulatory networks. RESULTS: We have designed an algorithm, CutTree that when applied to whole-genome expression datasets identifies the primary affected genes (PAGs) of a chemical compound by separating them from downstream, indirectly affected genes. Unlike previous methods requiring whole-genome deletion libraries or a complete map of gene network architecture, CutTree identifies PAGs from a limited set of experimental perturbations without requiring any prior information about the underlying pathways. The principle for CutTree is to iteratively filter out PAGs from other recurrently active genes (RAGs) that are not PAGs. The in silico validation predicted that CutTree should be able to identify 3–4 out of 5 known PAGs (~70%). In accordance, when we applied CutTree to whole-genome expression profiles from 17 genetic perturbations in the presence of galactose in Yeast, CutTree identified four out of five known primary galactose targets (80%). Using an exhaustive search strategy to detect these PAGs would not have been feasible (>10(12 )combinations). CONCLUSION: In combination with genetic perturbation techniques like short interfering RNA (siRNA) followed by whole-genome expression measurements, CutTree sets the stage for compound target identification in less well-characterized but more disease-relevant mammalian cell systems

From Knockouts to Networks: Establishing Direct Cause-Effect Relationships through Graph Analysis

Background: Reverse-engineering gene networks from expression profiles is a difficult problem for which a multitude of techniques have been developed over the last decade. The yearly organized DREAM challenges allow for a fair evaluation and unbiased comparison of these methods. Results: We propose an inference algorithm that combines confidence matrices, computed as the standard scores from single-gene knockout data, with the down-ranking of feed-forward edges. Substantial improvements on the predictions can be obtained after the execution of this second step. Conclusions: Our algorithm was awarded the best overall performance at the DREAM4 In Silico 100-gene network subchallenge, proving to be effective in inferring medium-size gene regulatory networks. This success demonstrates once again the decisive importance of gene expression data obtained after systematic gene perturbations and highlights the usefulness of graph analysis to increase the reliability of inference

Improved Reconstruction of In Silico Gene Regulatory Networks by Integrating Knockout and Perturbation Data

We performed computational reconstruction of the in silico gene regulatory networks in the DREAM3 Challenges. Our task was to learn the networks from two types of data, namely gene expression profiles in deletion strains (the ‘deletion data’) and time series trajectories of gene expression after some initial perturbation (the ‘perturbation data’). In the course of developing the prediction method, we observed that the two types of data contained different and complementary information about the underlying network. In particular, deletion data allow for the detection of direct regulatory activities with strong responses upon the deletion of the regulator while perturbation data provide richer information for the identification of weaker and more complex types of regulation. We applied different techniques to learn the regulation from the two types of data. For deletion data, we learned a noise model to distinguish real signals from random fluctuations using an iterative method. For perturbation data, we used differential equations to model the change of expression levels of a gene along the trajectories due to the regulation of other genes. We tried different models, and combined their predictions. The final predictions were obtained by merging the results from the two types of data. A comparison with the actual regulatory networks suggests that our approach is effective for networks with a range of different sizes. The success of the approach demonstrates the importance of integrating heterogeneous data in network reconstruction

Bayesian Network Expansion Identifies New ROS and Biofilm Regulators

Signaling and regulatory pathways that guide gene expression have only been partially defined for most organisms. However, given the increasing number of microarray measurements, it may be possible to reconstruct such pathways and uncover missing connections directly from experimental data. Using a compendium of microarray gene expression data obtained from Escherichia coli, we constructed a series of Bayesian network models for the reactive oxygen species (ROS) pathway as defined by EcoCyc. A consensus Bayesian network model was generated using those networks sharing the top recovered score. This microarray-based network only partially agreed with the known ROS pathway curated from the literature and databases. A top network was then expanded to predict genes that could enhance the Bayesian network model using an algorithm we termed ‘BN+1’. This expansion procedure predicted many stress-related genes (e.g., dusB and uspE), and their possible interactions with other ROS pathway genes. A term enrichment method discovered that biofilm-associated microarray data usually contained high expression levels of both uspE and gadX. The predicted involvement of gene uspE in the ROS pathway and interactions between uspE and gadX were confirmed experimentally using E. coli reporter strains. Genes gadX and uspE showed a feedback relationship in regulating each other's expression. Both genes were verified to regulate biofilm formation through gene knockout experiments. These data suggest that the BN+1 expansion method can faithfully uncover hidden or unknown genes for a selected pathway with significant biological roles. The presently reported BN+1 expansion method is a generalized approach applicable to the characterization and expansion of other biological pathways and living systems

Recovering Genetic Regulatory Networks from Chromatin Immunoprecipitation and Steady-State Microarray Data

<p/> <p>Recent advances in high-throughput DNA microarrays and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays have enabled the learning of the structure and functionality of genetic regulatory networks. In light of these heterogeneous data sets, this paper proposes a novel approach for reconstruction of genetic regulatory networks based on the posterior probabilities of gene regulations. Built within the framework of Bayesian statistics and computational Monte Carlo techniques, the proposed approach prevents the dichotomy of classifying gene interactions as either being connected or disconnected, thereby it reduces significantly the inference errors. Simulation results corroborate the superior performance of the proposed approach relative to the existing state-of-the-art algorithms. A genetic regulatory network for <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</it> is inferred based on the published real data sets, and biological meaningful results are discussed.</p