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Modeling regulatory cascades using Artificial Neural Networks: the case of transcriptional regulatory networks shaped during the yeast stress response.

ABSTRACT: Over the last decade, numerous computational methods have been developed in order to infer and model biological networks. Transcriptional networks in particular have attracted significant attention due to their critical role in cell survival. The majority of network inference methods use genome-wide experimental data to search for modules of genes with coherent expression profiles and common regulators, often ignoring the multi-layer structure of transcriptional cascades. Modeling methodologies on the other hand assume a given network structure and vary significantly in their algorithmic approach, ranging from over-simplified representations (e.g., Boolean networks) to detailed -but computationally expensive-network simulations (e.g., with differential equations). In this work we use Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to model transcriptional regulatory cascades that emerge during the stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and extend in three layers. We confine the structure of the ANNs to match the structure of the biological networks as determined by gene expression, DNA-protein interaction and experimental evidence provided in publicly available databases. Trained ANNs are able to predict the expression profile of 11 target genes across multiple experimental conditions with a correlation coefficient >0.7. When time-dependent interactions between upstream transcription factors (TFs) and their indirect targets are also included in the ANNs, accurate predictions are achieved for 30/34 target genes. Moreover, heterodimer formation is taken into account. We show that ANNs can be used to (1) accurately predict the expression of downstream genes in a 3-layer transcriptional cascade based on the expression of their indirect regulators and (2) infer the condition- and time-dependent activity of various TFs as well as during heterodimer formation. We show that a three-layer regulatory cascade whose structure is determined by co-expressed gene modules and their regulators can successfully be modeled using ANNs with a similar configuration.

SUBMITTER: Manioudaki ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3687159 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Modeling regulatory cascades using Artificial Neural Networks: the case of transcriptional regulatory networks shaped during the yeast stress response.

Manioudaki Maria E ME Poirazi Panayiota P

Frontiers in genetics 20130620

Over the last decade, numerous computational methods have been developed in order to infer and model biological networks. Transcriptional networks in particular have attracted significant attention due to their critical role in cell survival. The majority of network inference methods use genome-wide experimental data to search for modules of genes with coherent expression profiles and common regulators, often ignoring the multi-layer structure of transcriptional cascades. Modeling methodologies ...[more]

PMID: 23802010

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Project description:BackgroundLittle is known about bacterial transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs). In Escherichia coli, which is the organism with the largest wet-lab validated TRN, its set of interactions involves only approximately 50% of the repertoire of transcription factors currently known, and ~25% of its genes. Of those, only a small proportion describes the regulation of processes that are clinically relevant, such as drug resistance mechanisms.ResultsWe designed feed-forward (FF) and bi-fan (BF) motif predictors for E. coli using multi-layer perceptron artificial neural networks (ANNs). The motif predictors were trained using a large dataset of gene expression data; the collection of motifs was extracted from the E. coli TRN. Each network motif was mapped to a vector of correlations which were computed using the gene expression profile of the elements in the motif. Thus, by combining network structural information with transcriptome data, FF and BF predictors were able to classify with a high precision of 83% and 96%, respectively, and with a high recall of 86% and 97%, respectively. These results were found when motifs were represented using different types of correlations together, i.e., Pearson, Spearman, Kendall, and partial correlation. We then applied the best predictors to hypothesize new regulations for 16 operons involved with multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pumps, which are considered as a major bacterial mechanism to fight antimicrobial agents. As a result, the motif predictors assigned new transcription factors for these MDR proteins, turning them into high-quality candidates to be experimentally tested.ConclusionThe motif predictors presented herein can be used to identify novel regulatory interactions by using microarray data. The presentation of an example motif to predictors will make them categorize whether or not the example motif is a BF, or whether or not it is an FF. This approach is useful to find new "pieces" of the TRN, when inspecting the regulation of a small set of operons. Furthermore, it shows that correlations of expression data can be used to discriminate between elements that are arranged in structural motifs and those in random sets of transcripts.

Dataset Information

Modeling regulatory cascades using Artificial Neural Networks: the case of transcriptional regulatory networks shaped during the yeast stress response.

Publications

Modeling regulatory cascades using Artificial Neural Networks: the case of transcriptional regulatory networks shaped during the yeast stress response.

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