Local optimization for global alignment of protein interaction networks.
(3/865)
We propose a novel algorithm, PISwap, for computing global pairwise alignments of protein interaction networks, based on a local optimization heuristic that has previously demonstrated its effectiveness for a variety of other NP-hard problems, such as the Traveling Salesman Problem. Our algorithm begins with a sequence-based network alignment and then iteratively adjusts the alignment by incorporating network structure information. It has a worst-case pseudo-polynomial running-time bound and is very efficient in practice. It is shown to produce improved alignments in several well-studied cases. In addition, the flexible nature of this algorithm makes it suitable for different applications of network alignments. Finally, this algorithm can yield interesting insights into the evolutionary history of the compared species. (+info)
Identification of coordinately dysregulated subnetworks in complex phenotypes.
(4/865)
In the study of complex phenotypes, single gene markers can only provide limited insights into the manifestation of phenotype. To this end, protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks prove useful in the identification of multiple interacting markers. Recent studies show that, when considered together, many proteins that are connected via physical and functional interactions exhibit significant differential expression with respect to various complex phenotypes, including cancers. As compared to single gene markers, these "coordinately dysregulated subnetworks" improve diagnosis and prognosis of cancer significantly and offer novel insights into the network dynamics of phenotype. However, the problem of identifying coordinately dysregulated subnetworks presents significant algorithmic challenges. Existing approaches utilize heuristics that aim to greedily maximize information-theoretic class separability measures, however, by definition of "coordinate" dysregulation, such greedy algorithms do not suit well to this problem. In this paper, we formulate coordinate dysregulation in the context of the well-known set-cover problem, with a view to capturing the coordination between multiple genes at a sample-specific resolution. Based on this formulation, we adapt state-of-the-art approximation algorithms for set-cover to the identification of coordinately dysregulated subnetworks. Comprehensive experimental results on human colorectal cancer (CRC) show that, when compared to existing algorithms, the proposed algorithm, NETCOVER, improves diagnosis of cancer and prediction of metastasis significantly. Our results also demonstrate that subnetworks in the neighborhood of known CRC driver genes exhibit significant coordinate dysregulation, indicating that the notion of coordinate dysregulation may indeed be useful in understanding the network dynamics of complex phenotypes. (+info)
Exploring biological network dynamics with ensembles of graph partitions.
(5/865)
Unveiling the modular structure of biological networks can reveal important organizational patterns in the cell. Many graph partitioning algorithms have been proposed towards this end. However, most approaches only consider a single, optimal decomposition of the network. In this work, we make use of the multitude of near-optimal clusterings in order to explore the dynamics of network clusterings and how those dynamics relate to the structure of the underlying network. We recast the modularity optimization problem as an integer linear program with diversity constraints. These constraints produce an ensemble of dissimilar but still highly modular clusterings. We apply our approach to four social and biological networks and show how optimal and near-optimal solutions can be used in conjunction to identify deeper community structure in the network, including inter-community dynamics, communities that are especially resilient to change, and core-and-peripheral community members. (+info)
Geometric evolutionary dynamics of protein interaction networks.
(6/865)
Understanding the evolution and structure of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks is a central problem of systems biology. Since most processes in the cell are carried out by groups of proteins acting together, a theoretical model of how PPI networks develop based on duplications and mutations is an essential ingredient for understanding the complex wiring of the cell. Many different network models have been proposed, from those that follow power-law degree distributions and those that model complementarity of protein binding domains, to those that have geometric properties. Here, we introduce a new model for PPI network (and thus gene) evolution that produces well-fitting network models for currently available PPI networks. The model integrates geometric network properties with evolutionary dynamics of PPI network evolution. (+info)
Towards integrative gene prioritization in Alzheimer's disease.
(7/865)
Many methods have been proposed for facilitating the uncovering of genes that underlie the pathology of different diseases. Some are purely statistical, resulting in a (mostly) undifferentiated set of genes that are differentially expressed (or co-expressed), while others seek to prioritize the resulting set of genes through comparison against specific known targets. Most of the recent approaches use either single data or knowledge sources, or combine the independent predictions from each source. However, given that multiple kinds of heterogeneous sources are potentially relevant for gene prioritization, each subject to different levels of noise and of varying reliability, each source bearing information not carried by another, we claim that an ideal prioritization method should provide ways to discern amongst them in a true integrative fashion that captures the subtleties of each, rather than using a simple combination of sources. Integration of multiple data for gene prioritization is thus more challenging than its single data type counterpart. What we propose is a novel, general, and flexible formulation that enables multi-source data integration for gene prioritization that maximizes the complementary nature of different data and knowledge sources in order to make the most use of the information content of aggregate data. Protein-protein interactions and Gene Ontology annotations were used as knowledge sources, together with assay-specific gene expression and genome-wide association data. Leave-one-out testing was performed using a known set of Alzheimer's Disease genes to validate our proposed method. We show that our proposed method performs better than the best multi-source gene prioritization systems currently published. (+info)
Systems biology analyses of gene expression and genome wide association study data in obstructive sleep apnea.
(8/865)
The precise molecular etiology of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is unknown; however recent research indicates that several interconnected aberrant pathways and molecular abnormalities are contributors to OSA. Identifying the genes and pathways associated with OSA can help to expand our understanding of the risk factors for the disease as well as provide new avenues for potential treatment. Towards these goals, we have integrated relevant high dimensional data from various sources, such as genome-wide expression data (microarray), protein-protein interaction (PPI) data and results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in order to define sub-network elements that connect some of the known pathways related to the disease as well as define novel regulatory modules related to OSA. Two distinct approaches are applied to identify sub-networks significantly associated with OSA. In the first case we used a biased approach based on sixty genes/proteins with known associations with sleep disorders and/or metabolic disease to seed a search using commercial software to discover networks associated with disease followed by information theoretic (mutual information) scoring of the sub-networks. In the second case we used an unbiased approach and generated an interactome constructed from publicly available gene expression profiles and PPI databases, followed by scoring of the network with p-values from GWAS data derived from OSA patients to uncover sub-networks significant for the disease phenotype. A comparison of the approaches reveals a number of proteins that have been previously known to be associated with OSA or sleep. In addition, our results indicate a novel association of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase, the STAT family of proteins and its related pathways with OSA. (+info)