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RNAnet a Map of Human Gene Expression

RNAnet provides a bridge between two widely used Human gene databases. Ensembl describes DNA sequences and transcripts but not experimental gene expression. Whilst NCBI's GEO contains actual expression levels from Human samples. RNAnet provides immediate access to thousands of Affymetrix HG-U133 2plus GeneChip measurements Homo sapiens genes in most medically interesting tissues. Without RNAnet comparison across experiments in GEO is very labour intensive requiring man months of effort to down load and clean data. With RNAnet anyone can access cleaned quantile normalised data in seconds. It can be used to data mine patterns of co-expression. The network of strongly correlated genes is huge but sparse. Thousands of genes interact strongly with thousands of others. Conversely there are tens of thousands of genes which interact strongly with less than 100 others. I.e. RNAnet gives new views for RNA Systems Biology.

q-bio.MN↗

Switch and template pattern formation in a discrete reaction diffusion system inspired by the Drosophila eye

We examine a spatially discrete reaction diffusion model based on the interactions that create a periodic pattern in the Drosophila eye imaginal disc. This model is capable of generating a regular hexagonal pattern of gene expression behind a moving front, as observed in the fly system. In order to better understand the novel switch and template mechanism behind this pattern formation, we present here a detailed study of the model's behavior in one dimension, using a combination of analytic methods and numerical searches of parameter space. We find that patterns are created robustly provided that there is an appropriate separation of timescales and that self-activation is sufficiently strong, and we derive expressions in this limit for the front speed and the pattern wavelength. Moving fronts in pattern-forming systems near an initial linear instability generically select a unique pattern, but our model operates in a strongly nonlinear regime where the final pattern depends on the initial conditions as well as on parameter values. Our work highlights the important role that cellularization and cell-autonomous feedback can play in biological pattern formation.

q-bio.MN↗

Systems biology: From the cell to the brain

With the completion of human genome mapping, the focus of scientists seeking to explain the biological complexity of living systems is shifting from analyzing the individual components (such as a particular gene or biochemical reaction) to understanding the set of interactions amongst the large number of components that results in the different functions of the organism. To this end, the area of systems biology attempts to achieve a "systems-level" description of biology by focusing on the network of interactions instead of the characteristics of its isolated parts. In this article, we briefly describe some of the emerging themes of research in "network" biology, looking at dynamical processes occurring at the two different length scales of within the cell and between cells, viz., the intra-cellular signaling network and the nervous system. We show that focusing on the systems-level aspects of these problems allows one to observe surprising and illuminating common themes amongst them.

q-bio.MN↗

Higher Order Boolean networks as models of cell state dynamics

The regulation of the cell state is a complex process involving several components. These complex dynamics can be modeled using Boolean networks, allowing us to explain the existence of different cell states and the transition between them. Boolean models have been introduced both as specific examples and as ensemble or distribution network models. However, current ensemble Boolean network models do not make a systematic distinction between different cell components such as epigenetic factors, gene and transcription factors. Consequently, we still do not understand their relative contributions in controlling the cell fate. In this work we introduce and study higher order Boolean networks, which feature an explicit distinction between the different cell components and the types of interactions between them. We show that the stability of the cell state dynamics can be determined solving the eigenvalue problem of a matrix representing the regulatory interactions and their strengths. The qualitative analysis of this problem indicates that, in addition to the classification into stable and chaotic regimes, the cell state can be simple or complex depending on whether it can be deduced from the independent study of its components or not. Finally, we illustrate how the model can be expanded considering higher levels and higher order dynamics.

q-bio.MN↗

Orientational Order Governs Collectivity of Folded Proteins

The past decade has witnessed the development and success of coarse-grained network models of proteins for predicting many equilibrium properties related to collective modes of motion. Curiously, the results are usually robust towards the different cutoff distances used for constructing the residue networks from the knowledge of the experimental coordinates. In this study, we present a systematical study of network construction, and their effect on the predicted properties. Probing bond orientational order around each residue, we propose a natural partitioning of the interactions into an essential and a residual set. In this picture the robustness originates from the way with which new contacts are added so that an unusual local orientational order builds up. These residual interactions have a vanishingly small effect on the force vectors on each residue. The stability of the overall force balance then translates into the Hessian as small shifts in the slow modes of motion and an invariance of the corresponding eigenvectors. We introduce a rescaled version of the Hessian matrix and point out a link between the matrix Frobenius norm based on spectral stability arguments. A recipe for the optimal choice of partitioning the interactions into essential and residual components is prescribed. Implications for the study of biologically relevant properties of proteins are discussed with specific examples.

q-bio.BM↗

Switching in mass action networks based on linear inequalities

Many biochemical processes can successfully be described by dynamical systems allowing some form of switching when, depending on their initial conditions, solutions of the dynamical system end up in different regions of state space (associated with different biochemical functions). Switching is often realized by a bistable system (i.e. a dynamical system allowing two stable steady state solutions) and, in the majority of cases, bistability is established numerically. In our point of view this approach is too restrictive, as, one the one hand, due to predominant parameter uncertainty numerical methods are generally difficult to apply to realistic models originating in Systems Biology. And on the other hand switching already arises with the occurrence of a saddle type steady state (characterized by a Jacobian where exactly one Eigenvalue is positive and the remaining eigenvalues have negative real part). Consequently we derive conditions based on linear inequalities that allow the analytic computation of states and parameters where the Jacobian derived from a mass action network has a defective zero eigenvalue so that -- under certain genericity conditions -- a saddle-node bifurcation occurs. Our conditions are applicable to general mass action networks involving at least one conservation relation, however, they are only sufficient (as infeasibility of linear inequalities does not exclude defective zero eigenvalues).

q-bio.MN↗

Partition Decoupling for Multi-gene Analysis of Gene Expression Profiling Data

We present the extention and application of a new unsupervised statistical learning technique--the Partition Decoupling Method--to gene expression data. Because it has the ability to reveal non-linear and non-convex geometries present in the data, the PDM is an improvement over typical gene expression analysis algorithms, permitting a multi-gene analysis that can reveal phenotypic differences even when the individual genes do not exhibit differential expression. Here, we apply the PDM to publicly-available gene expression data sets, and demonstrate that we are able to identify cell types and treatments with higher accuracy than is obtained through other approaches. By applying it in a pathway-by-pathway fashion, we demonstrate how the PDM may be used to find sets of mechanistically-related genes that discriminate phenotypes.

q-bio.QM↗

Density-based modeling and identification of biochemical networks in cell populations

In many biological processes heterogeneity within cell populations is an important issue. In this work we consider populations where the behavior of every single cell can be described by a system of ordinary differential equations. Heterogeneity among individual cells is accounted for by differences in parameter values and initial conditions. Hereby, parameter values and initial conditions are subject to a distribution function which is part of the model specification. Based on the single cell model and the considered parameter distribution, a partial differential equation model describing the distribution of cells in the state and in the output space is derived. For the estimation of the parameter distribution within the model, we consider experimental data as obtained from flow cytometric analysis. From these noise-corrupted data a density-based statistical data model is derived. Using this data model the parameter distribution within the cell population is computed using convex optimization techniques. To evaluate the proposed method, a model for the caspase activation cascade is considered. It is shown that for known noise properties the unknown parameter distributions in this model are well estimated by the proposed method.

q-bio.MN↗

Refining the Protein-Protein Interactome using Gene Expression Data

Proteins interact with other proteins within biological pathways, forming connected subgraphs in the protein-protein interactome (PPI). Proteins are often involved in multiple biological pathways which complicates interpretation of interactions between proteins. Gene expression data can assist our inference since genes within a particular pathway tend to have more correlated expression patterns than genes from distinct pathways. We provide an algorithm that uses gene expression information to remove inter-pathway protein-protein interactions, thereby simplifying the structure of the protein-protein interactome. This refined topology permits easier interpretation and greater biological coherence of multiple biological pathways simultaneously.

q-bio.MN↗

Genotype networks in metabolic reaction spaces

Background: A metabolic genotype comprises all chemical reactions an organism can catalyze via enzymes encoded in its genome. A genotype is viable in a given environment if it is capable of producing all biomass components the organism needs to survive and reproduce. Previous work has focused on the properties of individual genotypes while little is known about how genome-scale metabolic networks with a given function can vary in their reaction content. Results: We here characterize spaces of such genotypes. Specifically, we study metabolic genotypes whose phenotype is viability in minimal chemical environments that differ in their sole carbon sources. We show that regardless of the number of reactions in a metabolic genotype, the genotypes of a given phenotype typically form vast, connected, and unstructured sets -- genotype networks -- that nearly span the whole of genotype space. The robustness of metabolic phenotypes to random reaction removal in such spaces has a narrow distribution with a high mean. Different carbon sources differ in the number of metabolic genotypes in their genotype network; this number decreases as a genotype is required to be viable on increasing numbers of carbon sources, but much less than if metabolic reactions were used independently across different chemical environments. Conclusions: Our work shows that phenotype-preserving genotype networks have generic organizational properties and that these properties are insensitive to the number of reactions in metabolic genotypes.

q-bio.MN↗

Statistical Analysis of Global Connectivity and Activity Distributions in Cellular Networks

Various molecular interaction networks have been claimed to follow power-law decay for their global connectivity distribution. It has been proposed that there may be underlying generative models that explain this heavy-tailed behavior by self-reinforcement processes such as classical or hierarchical scale-free network models. Here we analyze a comprehensive data set of protein-protein and transcriptional regulatory interaction networks in yeast, an E. coli metabolic network, and gene activity profiles for different metabolic states in both organisms. We show that in all cases the networks have a heavy-tailed distribution, but most of them present significant differences from a power-law model according to a stringent statistical test. Those few data sets that have a statistically significant fit with a power-law model follow other distributions equally well. Thus, while our analysis supports that both global connectivity interaction networks and activity distributions are heavy-tailed, they are not generally described by any specific distribution model, leaving space for further inferences on generative models.

q-bio.MN↗

Error-Control and Digitalization Concepts for Chemical and Biomolecular Information Processing Systems

We consider approaches for controlling the buildup of noise by design of gates for chemical and biomolecular computing, in order to realize stable, scalable networks for multi-step information processing. Solvable rate-equation models are introduced and used to illustrate several recently developed concepts and methodologies. We also outline future challenges and possible research directions.

physics.bio-ph↗

An introduction to spectral distances in networks (extended version)

Many functions have been recently defined to assess the similarity among networks as tools for quantitative comparison. They stem from very different frameworks - and they are tuned for dealing with different situations. Here we show an overview of the spectral distances, highlighting their behavior in some basic cases of static and dynamic synthetic and real networks.

q-bio.MN↗

Programming Discrete Physical Systems

Every algorithm which can be executed on a computer can at least in principle be realized in hardware, i.e. by a discrete physical system. The problem is that up to now there is no programming language by which physical systems can constructively be described. Such tool, however, is essential for the compact description and automatic production of complex systems. This paper introduces a programming language, called Akton-Algebra, which provides the foundation for the complete description of discrete physical systems. The approach originates from the finding that every discrete physical system reduces to a spatiotemporal topological network of nodes, if the functional and metric properties are deleted. A next finding is that there exists a homeomorphism between the topological network and a sequence of symbols representing a program by which the original nodal network can be reconstructed. Providing Akton-Algebra with functionality turns it into a flow-controlled general data processing language, which by introducing clock control and addressing can be further transformed into a classical programming language. Providing Akton-Algebra with metrics, i.e. the shape and size of the components, turns it into a novel hardware system construction language.

cs.PL↗

SABRE: A Tool for Stochastic Analysis of Biochemical Reaction Networks

The importance of stochasticity within biological systems has been shown repeatedly during the last years and has raised the need for efficient stochastic tools. We present SABRE, a tool for stochastic analysis of biochemical reaction networks. SABRE implements fast adaptive uniformization (FAU), a direct numerical approximation algorithm for computing transient solutions of biochemical reaction networks. Biochemical reactions networks represent biological systems studied at a molecular level and these reactions can be modeled as transitions of a Markov chain. SABRE accepts as input the formalism of guarded commands, which it interprets either as continuous-time or as discrete-time Markov chains. Besides operating in a stochastic mode, SABRE may also perform a deterministic analysis by directly computing a mean-field approximation of the system under study. We illustrate the different functionalities of SABRE by means of biological case studies.

cs.CE↗

Maximal and minimal realizations of reaction kinetic systems: computation and properties

This paper presents new results about the optimization based generation of chemical reaction networks (CRNs) of higher deficiency. Firstly, it is shown that the graph structure of the realization containing the maximal number of reactions is unique if the set of possible complexes is fixed. Secondly, a mixed integer programming based numerical procedure is given for computing a realization containing the minimal/maximal number of complexes. Moreover, the linear inequalities corresponding to full reversibility of the CRN realization are also described. The theoretical results are illustrated on meaningful examples.

q-bio.MN↗

Mutual inactivation of Notch and Delta permits a simple mechanism for lateral inhibition patterning

Lateral inhibition patterns mediated by the Notch-Delta signaling system occur in diverse developmental contexts. These systems are based on an intercellular feedback loop in which Notch activation leads to down-regulation of Delta. However, even in relatively well-characterized systems, the pathway leading from Notch activation to Delta repression often remains elusive. Recent work has shown that cis-interactions between Notch and Delta lead to mutual inactivation of both proteins. Here we show that this type of cis-interaction enables a simpler and more direct mechanism for lateral inhibition feedback than those proposed previously. In this mechanism, Notch signaling directly up-regulates Notch expression, thereby inactivating Delta through the mutual inactivation of Notch and Delta proteins. This mechanism, which we term Simplest Lateral Inhibition by Mutual Inactivation (SLIMI), can implement patterning without requiring any additional genes or regulatory interactions. Moreover, the key interaction of Notch expression in response to Notch signaling has been observed in some systems. Stability analysis and simulation of SLIMI mathematical models show that this lateral inhibition circuit is capable of pattern formation across a broad range of parameter values. These results provide a simple and plausible explanation for lateral inhibition pattern formation during development.

q-bio.MN↗