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BGRMI: A method for inferring gene regulatory networks from time-course gene expression data and its application in breast cancer research.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructing gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from gene expression data is a challenging problem. Existing GRN reconstruction algorithms can be broadly divided into model-free and model-based methods. Typically, model-free methods have high accuracy but are computation intensive whereas model-based methods are fast but less accurate. We propose Bayesian Gene Regulation Model Inference (BGRMI), a model-based method for inferring GRNs from time-course gene expression data. BGRMI uses a Bayesian framework to calculate the probability of different models of GRNs and a heuristic search strategy to scan the model space efficiently. Using benchmark datasets, we show that BGRMI has higher/comparable accuracy at a fraction of the computational cost of competing algorithms. Additionally, it can incorporate prior knowledge of potential gene regulation mechanisms and TF hetero-dimerization processes in the GRN reconstruction process. We incorporated existing ChIP-seq data and known protein interactions between TFs in BGRMI as sources of prior knowledge to reconstruct transcription regulatory networks of proliferating and differentiating breast cancer (BC) cells from time-course gene expression data. The reconstructed networks revealed key driver genes of proliferation and differentiation in BC cells. Some of these genes were not previously studied in the context of BC, but may have clinical relevance in BC treatment.

SUBMITTER: Iglesias-Martinez LF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5120305 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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BGRMI: A method for inferring gene regulatory networks from time-course gene expression data and its application in breast cancer research.

Iglesias-Martinez Luis F LF Kolch Walter W Santra Tapesh T

Scientific reports 20161123

Reconstructing gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from gene expression data is a challenging problem. Existing GRN reconstruction algorithms can be broadly divided into model-free and model-based methods. Typically, model-free methods have high accuracy but are computation intensive whereas model-based methods are fast but less accurate. We propose Bayesian Gene Regulation Model Inference (BGRMI), a model-based method for inferring GRNs from time-course gene expression data. BGRMI uses a Bayesian f ...[more]

PMID: 27876826

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Project description:BackgroundThe inference of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from experimental observations is at the heart of systems biology. This includes the inference of both the network topology and its dynamics. While there are many algorithms available to infer the network topology from experimental data, less emphasis has been placed on methods that infer network dynamics. Furthermore, since the network inference problem is typically underdetermined, it is essential to have the option of incorporating into the inference process, prior knowledge about the network, along with an effective description of the search space of dynamic models. Finally, it is also important to have an understanding of how a given inference method is affected by experimental and other noise in the data used.ResultsThis paper contains a novel inference algorithm using the algebraic framework of Boolean polynomial dynamical systems (BPDS), meeting all these requirements. The algorithm takes as input time series data, including those from network perturbations, such as knock-out mutant strains and RNAi experiments. It allows for the incorporation of prior biological knowledge while being robust to significant levels of noise in the data used for inference. It uses an evolutionary algorithm for local optimization with an encoding of the mathematical models as BPDS. The BPDS framework allows an effective representation of the search space for algebraic dynamic models that improves computational performance. The algorithm is validated with both simulated and experimental microarray expression profile data. Robustness to noise is tested using a published mathematical model of the segment polarity gene network in Drosophila melanogaster. Benchmarking of the algorithm is done by comparison with a spectrum of state-of-the-art network inference methods on data from the synthetic IRMA network to demonstrate that our method has good precision and recall for the network reconstruction task, while also predicting several of the dynamic patterns present in the network.ConclusionsBoolean polynomial dynamical systems provide a powerful modeling framework for the reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks, that enables a rich mathematical structure on the model search space. A C++ implementation of the method, distributed under LPGL license, is available, together with the source code, at http://www.paola-vera-licona.net/Software/EARevEng/REACT.html.

Project description:MotivationSingle cell transcriptional profiling opens up a new avenue in studying the functional role of cell-to-cell variability in physiological processes. The analysis of single cell expression profiles creates new challenges due to the distributive nature of the data and the stochastic dynamics of gene transcription process. The reconstruction of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) using single cell transcriptional profiles is particularly challenging, especially when directed gene-gene relationships are desired.ResultsWe developed SINCERITIES (SINgle CEll Regularized Inference using TIme-stamped Expression profileS) for the inference of GRNs from single cell transcriptional profiles. We focused on time-stamped cross-sectional expression data, commonly generated from transcriptional profiling of single cells collected at multiple time points after cell stimulation. SINCERITIES recovers directed regulatory relationships among genes by employing regularized linear regression (ridge regression), using temporal changes in the distributions of gene expressions. Meanwhile, the modes of the gene regulations (activation and repression) come from partial correlation analyses between pairs of genes. We demonstrated the efficacy of SINCERITIES in inferring GRNs using in silico time-stamped single cell expression data and single cell transcriptional profiles of THP-1 monocytic human leukemia cells. The case studies showed that SINCERITIES could provide accurate GRN predictions, significantly better than other GRN inference algorithms such as TSNI, GENIE3 and JUMP3. Moreover, SINCERITIES has a low computational complexity and is amenable to problems of extremely large dimensionality. Finally, an application of SINCERITIES to single cell expression data of T2EC chicken erythrocytes pointed to BATF as a candidate novel regulator of erythroid development.Availability and implementationMATLAB and R version of SINCERITIES are freely available from the following websites: http://www.cabsel.ethz.ch/tools/sincerities.html and https://github.com/CABSEL/SINCERITIES. The single cell THP-1 and T2EC transcriptional profiles are available from the original publications (Kouno et al., 2013; Richard et al., 2016). The in silico single cell data are available on SINCERITIES websites.Supplementary informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Project description:Hematopoiesis is a highly complex developmental process that produces various types of blood cells. This process is regulated by different genetic networks that control the proliferation, differentiation, and maturation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Although substantial progress has been made for understanding hematopoiesis, the detailed regulatory mechanisms for the fate determination of HSCs are still unraveled. In this study, we propose a novel approach to infer the detailed regulatory mechanisms. This work is designed to develop a mathematical framework that is able to realize nonlinear gene expression dynamics accurately. In particular, we intended to investigate the effect of possible protein heterodimers and/or synergistic effect in genetic regulation. This approach includes the Extended Forward Search Algorithm to infer network structure (top-down approach) and a non-linear mathematical model to infer dynamical property (bottom-up approach). Based on the published experimental data, we study two regulatory networks of 11 genes for regulating the erythrocyte differentiation pathway and the neutrophil differentiation pathway. The proposed algorithm is first applied to predict the network topologies among 11 genes and 55 non-linear terms which may be for heterodimers and/or synergistic effect. Then, the unknown model parameters are estimated by fitting simulations to the expression data of two different differentiation pathways. In addition, the edge deletion test is conducted to remove possible insignificant regulations from the inferred networks. Furthermore, the robustness property of the mathematical model is employed as an additional criterion to choose better network reconstruction results. Our simulation results successfully realized experimental data for two different differentiation pathways, which suggests that the proposed approach is an effective method to infer the topological structure and dynamic property of genetic regulations.

Dataset Information

BGRMI: A method for inferring gene regulatory networks from time-course gene expression data and its application in breast cancer research.

Publications

BGRMI: A method for inferring gene regulatory networks from time-course gene expression data and its application in breast cancer research.

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