Analysis and Practical Guideline of Constraint-Based Boolean Method in Genetic Network Inference

Boolean-based method, despite of its simplicity, would be a more attractive approach for inferring a network from high-throughput expression data if its effectiveness has not been limited by high false positive prediction. In this study, we explored factors that could simply be adjusted to improve the accuracy of inferring networks. Our work focused on the analysis of the effects of discretisation methods, biological constraints, and stringency of Boolean function assignment on the performance of Boolean network, including accuracy, precision, specificity and sensitivity, using three sets of microarray time-series data. The study showed that biological constraints have pivotal influence on the network performance over the other factors. It can reduce the variation in network performance resulting from the arbitrary selection of discretisation methods and stringency settings. We also presented the master Boolean network as an approach to establish the unique solution for Boolean analysis. The information acquired from the analysis was summarised and deployed as a general guideline for an efficient use of Boolean-based method in the network inference. In the end, we provided an example of the use of such a guideline in the study of Arabidopsis circadian clock genetic network from which much interesting biological information can be inferred

Crystal and molecular structures of a binuclear mixed ligand complex of silver(I) with thiocyanate and 1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione

The complete mol­ecule of the binuclear title complex, bis­[μ-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione-κ2S:S]bis­{(thio­cyanato-κS)[1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione-κS]silver(I)}, [Ag2(SCN)2(C2H3N3S)4], is generated by crystallographic inversion symmetry. The independent triazole-3-thione ligands employ the exocyclic-S atoms exclusively in coordination. One acts as a terminal S-ligand and the other in a bidentate (μ2) bridging mode to provide a link between two AgI centres. Each AgI atom is also coordinated by a terminal S-bound thio­cyanate ligand, resulting in a distorted AgS4 tetra­hedral coordination geometry. An intra­molecular N—H⋯S(thio­cyanate) hydrogen bond is noted. In the crystal, amine-N—H⋯S(thione), N—H⋯N(triazol­yl) and N—H⋯N(thio­cyanate) hydrogen bonds give rise to a three-dimensional architecture. The packing is consolidated by triazolyl-C—H⋯S(thio­cyanate), triazolyl-C—H⋯N(thiocyanate) and S⋯S [3.2463 (9) Å] inter­actions as well as face-to-face π–π stacking between the independent triazolyl rings [inter-centroid separation = 3.4444 (15) Å]. An analysis of the calculated Hirshfeld surfaces shows the three major contributors are due to N⋯H/H⋯N, S⋯H/H⋯S and C⋯H/H⋯C contacts, at 35.8, 19.4 and 12.7%, respectively; H⋯H contacts contribute only 7.6% to the overall surface