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Transcriptomics in type 2 diabetes: Bridging the gap between genotype and phenotype.

ABSTRACT: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a common, multifactorial disease that is influenced by genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. However, common variants identified by genome wide association studies (GWAS) explain only about 10% of the total trait variance for T2D and less than 5% of the variance for obesity, indicating that a large proportion of heritability is still unexplained. The transcriptomic approach described here uses quantitative gene expression and disease-related physiological data (deep phenotyping) to measure the direct correlation between the expression of specific genes and physiological traits. Transcriptomic analysis bridges the gulf between GWAS and physiological studies. Recent GWAS studies have utilized very large population samples, numbering in the tens of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of individuals, yet establishing causal functional relationships between strongly associated genetic variants and disease remains elusive. In light of the findings described below, it is appropriate to consider how and why transcriptomic approaches in small samples might be capable of identifying complex disease-related genes which are not apparent using GWAS in large samples.

SUBMITTER: Jenkinson CP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4832048 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Transcriptomics in type 2 diabetes: Bridging the gap between genotype and phenotype.

Jenkinson Christopher P CP Göring Harald H H HH Arya Rector R Blangero John J Duggirala Ravindranath R DeFronzo Ralph A RA

Genomics data 20151217

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a common, multifactorial disease that is influenced by genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. However, common variants identified by genome wide association studies (GWAS) explain only about 10% of the total trait variance for T2D and less than 5% of the variance for obesity, indicating that a large proportion of heritability is still unexplained. The transcriptomic approach described here uses quantitative gene expression and disease-related physiolog ...[more]

PMID: 27114903

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Project description:BackgroundDespite the close association between gene expression and metabolism, experimental evidence shows that gene expression levels alone cannot predict metabolic phenotypes, indicating a knowledge gap in our understanding of how these processes are connected. Here, we present a method that integrates transcriptome, fluxome, and metabolome data using kinetic models to create a mechanistic link between gene expression and metabolism.ResultsWe developed a modeling framework to construct kinetic models that connect the transcriptional and metabolic responses of a cell to exogenous perturbations. The framework allowed us to avoid extensive experimental characterization, literature mining, and optimization problems by estimating most model parameters directly from fluxome and transcriptome data. We applied the framework to investigate how gene expression changes led to observed phenotypic alterations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae treated with weak organic acids (i.e., acetate, benzoate, propionate, or sorbate) and the histidine synthesis inhibitor 3-aminotriazole under steady-state conditions. We found that the transcriptional response led to alterations in yeast metabolism that mimicked measured metabolic fluxes and concentration changes. Further analyses generated mechanistic insights of how S. cerevisiae responds to these stresses. In particular, these results suggest that S. cerevisiae uses different regulation strategies for responding to these insults: regulation of two reactions accounted for most of the tolerance to the four weak organic acids, whereas the response to 3-aminotriazole was distributed among multiple reactions. Moreover, we observed that the magnitude of the gene expression changes was not directly correlated with their effect on the ability of S. cerevisiae to grow under these treatments. In addition, we identified another potential mechanism of action of 3-aminotriazole associated with the depletion of tetrahydrofolate.ConclusionsOur simulation results show that the modeling framework provided an accurate mechanistic link between gene expression and cellular metabolism. The proposed method allowed us to integrate transcriptome, fluxome, and metabolome data to determine and interpret important features of the physiological response of yeast to stresses. Importantly, given its flexibility and robustness, our approach can be applied to investigate the transcriptional-metabolic response in other cellular systems of medical and industrial relevance.

Dataset Information

Transcriptomics in type 2 diabetes: Bridging the gap between genotype and phenotype.

Publications

Transcriptomics in type 2 diabetes: Bridging the gap between genotype and phenotype.

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