Comparing the biological coherence of network clusters identified by different detection algorithms

Protein-protein interaction networks serve to carry out basic molecular activity in the cell. Detecting the modular structures from the protein-protein interaction network is important for understanding the organization, function and dynamics of a biological system. In order to identify functional neighbor- hoods based on network topology, many network cluster identification algorithms have been devel- oped. However, each algorithm might dissect a network from a different aspect and may provide dif- ferent insight on the network partition. In order to objectively evaluate the performance of four com- monly used cluster detection algorithms: molecular complex detection (MCODE), NetworkBlast, shortest-distance clustering (SDC) and Girvan-Newman (G-N) algorithm, we compared the biological coherence of the network clusters found by these algorithms through a uniform evaluation framework. Each algorithm was utilized to find network clusters in two different protein-protein interaction net- works with various parameters. Comparison of the resulting network clusters indicates that clusters found by MCODE and SDC are of higher biological coherence than those by NetworkBlast and G-N algorithm.     

基于酵母基因组高通量数据的基因-基因相互作用预测

后基因组时代的显著特点是大规模基因组和蛋白质组实验平台所产生的大量高通量数据,整合并利用基因组和蛋白组信息成为这一时代的主要挑战之一. 因此,基因-基因相互作用将有助于理解细胞内基因之间的相互作用以及信号传导通路研究提供有价值的参考. 为预测酵母基因组中基因-基因相互作用,我们利用高通量数据中的蛋白-蛋白相互作用、遗传表型数据、基因微阵列表达数据以及功能基因注释数据等来分析酵母中的基因-基因相互作用. 本文建立的预测方法为在系统水平上理解酵母基因组中的基因功能提供了依据,也为揭示酵母基因组中的基因-基因相互作用网络奠定理论基础.     

New gene functions in megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation

Platelets are the second most abundant cell type in blood and are essential for maintaining haemostasis. Their count and volume are tightly controlled within narrow physiological ranges, but there is only limited understanding of the molecular processes controlling both traits. Here we carried out a high-powered meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in up to 66,867 individuals of European ancestry, followed by extensive biological and functional assessment. We identified 68 genomic loci reliably associated with platelet count and volume mapping to established and putative novel regulators of megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation. These genes show megakaryocyte-specific gene expression patterns and extensive network connectivity. Using gene silencing in Danio rerio and Drosophila melanogaster, we identified 11 of the genes as novel regulators of blood cell formation. Taken together, our findings advance understanding of novel gene functions controlling fate-determining events during megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation, providing a new example of successful translation of GWAS to function.     

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140?mm?Hg systolic blood pressure or ≥90?mm?Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention.     

Widespread changes in protein synthesis induced by microRNAs

Animal microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by inhibiting translation and/or by inducing degradation of target messenger RNAs. It is unknown how much translational control is exerted by miRNAs on a genome-wide scale. We used a new proteomic approach to measure changes in synthesis of several thousand proteins in response to miRNA transfection or endogenous miRNA knockdown. In parallel, we quantified mRNA levels using microarrays. Here we show that a single miRNA can repress the production of hundreds of proteins, but that this repression is typically relatively mild. A number of known features of the miRNA-binding site such as the seed sequence also govern repression of human protein synthesis, and we report additional target sequence characteristics. We demonstrate that, in addition to downregulating mRNA levels, miRNAs also directly repress translation of hundreds of genes. Finally, our data suggest that a miRNA can, by direct or indirect effects, tune protein synthesis from thousands of genes.     

基于网络药理学研究厚朴-杏仁治疗哮喘的潜在作用机制

本研究采用网络药理学方法分析厚朴-杏仁配伍治疗哮喘的潜在作用机制。通过BATMAN-TCM数据库检索厚朴、杏仁的中药化学成分及靶标信息，PALM-IST数据库搜索疾病靶标信息，string数据库构建靶标的蛋白质相互作用网络，利用Cytoscape v3.5.1对药物靶标相互作用进行可视化分析，DAVID数据库和Cytoscape v3.5.1的ClueGO+CluePedia插件对药物关键靶标进行GO生物功能富集分析和KEGG信号通路富集分析。共检索到厚朴-杏仁化合物51个，靶标435个，哮喘疾病相关靶标415个，进而分析得到药物治疗疾病关键靶标14个，包括肿瘤坏死因子、过氧化氢酶、白介素13、β2肾上腺素能受体等；GO基因功能分析主要涉及应激反应调控、先天性免疫反应调控、防御反应、急性炎症反应、刺激反应、凝血止血调节、自我内稳定、活性氧代谢过程等生物过程；KEGG分析主要参与NF-κB、IL-17、FcεRI、Toll受体及FoxO等信号通路。厚朴-杏仁能通过多个靶点、多种途径、多条通路对哮喘的气道慢性炎症、气道重塑和气道高反应起潜在治疗作用。     

基于网络药理学研究厚朴-杏仁治疗哮喘的潜在作用机制

本研究采用网络药理学方法分析厚朴-杏仁配伍治疗哮喘的潜在作用机制。通过BATMAN-TCM数据库检索厚朴、杏仁的中药化学成分及靶标信息,PALM-IST数据库搜索疾病靶标信息,string数据库构建靶标的蛋白质相互作用网络,利用Cytoscape v3.5.1对药物靶标相互作用进行可视化分析,DAVID数据库和Cytoscape v3.5.1的ClueGO+CluePedia插件对药物关键靶标进行GO生物功能富集分析和KEGG信号通路富集分析。共检索到厚朴-杏仁化合物51个,靶标435个,哮喘疾病相关靶标415个,进而分析得到药物治疗疾病关键靶标14个,包括肿瘤坏死因子、过氧化氢酶、白介素13、β2肾上腺素能受体等;GO基因功能分析主要涉及应激反应调控、先天性免疫反应调控、防御反应、急性炎症反应、刺激反应、凝血止血调节、自我内稳定、活性氧代谢过程等生物过程;KEGG分析主要参与NF-κB、IL-17、FcεRI、Toll受体及FoxO等信号通路。厚朴-杏仁能通过多个靶点、多种途径、多条通路对哮喘的气道慢性炎症、气道重塑和气道高反应起潜在治疗作用。     

Spatio-temporal correlations and visual signalling in a complete neuronal population

Statistical dependencies in the responses of sensory neurons govern both the amount of stimulus information conveyed and the means by which downstream neurons can extract it. Although a variety of measurements indicate the existence of such dependencies, their origin and importance for neural coding are poorly understood. Here we analyse the functional significance of correlated firing in a complete population of macaque parasol retinal ganglion cells using a model of multi-neuron spike responses. The model, with parameters fit directly to physiological data, simultaneously captures both the stimulus dependence and detailed spatio-temporal correlations in population responses, and provides two insights into the structure of the neural code. First, neural encoding at the population level is less noisy than one would expect from the variability of individual neurons: spike times are more precise, and can be predicted more accurately when the spiking of neighbouring neurons is taken into account. Second, correlations provide additional sensory information: optimal, model-based decoding that exploits the response correlation structure extracts 20% more information about the visual scene than decoding under the assumption of independence, and preserves 40% more visual information than optimal linear decoding. This model-based approach reveals the role of correlated activity in the retinal coding of visual stimuli, and provides a general framework for understanding the importance of correlated activity in populations of neurons.     

人体耳穴频率响应特性测试及其与疾病相关性分析

提出一种无创伤疾病诊断方法，通过人体耳穴测试人体系统频率响应特性，运用计算机进行统计分析处理，研究耳穴频响特性与疾病的相关性，获取一种反映人体各部生理信息的特征参数。     

A cellular analogue of visual cortical plasticity

Neuronal activity plays an important role in the development of the visual pathway. The modulation of synaptic transmission by temporal correlation between pre- and postsynaptic activity is one mechanism which could underly visual cortical plasticity. We report here that functional changes in single neurons of area 17, analogous to those known to take place during epigenesis of visual cortex, can be induced experimentally during the time of recording. This was done by a differential pairing procedure, during which iontophoresis was used to artificially increase the visual response for a given stimulus, and to decrease (or block) the response for a second stimulus which differed in ocularity or orientation. Long-term modifications in ocular dominance and orientation selectivity were produced in 33% and 43% of recorded cells respectively. Neuronal selectivity was nearly always displaced towards the stimulus paired with the reinforced visual response. The largest changes were obtained at the peak of the critical period in normally reared and visually deprived kittens, but changes were also observed in adults. Our findings support the role of temporal correlation between pre- and postsynaptic activity in the induction of long-lasting modifications of synaptic transmission during development, and in associative learning.     

Hierarchical structure and the prediction of missing links in networks

Networks have in recent years emerged as an invaluable tool for describing and quantifying complex systems in many branches of science. Recent studies suggest that networks often exhibit hierarchical organization, in which vertices divide into groups that further subdivide into groups of groups, and so forth over multiple scales. In many cases the groups are found to correspond to known functional units, such as ecological niches in food webs, modules in biochemical networks (protein interaction networks, metabolic networks or genetic regulatory networks) or communities in social networks. Here we present a general technique for inferring hierarchical structure from network data and show that the existence of hierarchy can simultaneously explain and quantitatively reproduce many commonly observed topological properties of networks, such as right-skewed degree distributions, high clustering coefficients and short path lengths. We further show that knowledge of hierarchical structure can be used to predict missing connections in partly known networks with high accuracy, and for more general network structures than competing techniques. Taken together, our results suggest that hierarchy is a central organizing principle of complex networks, capable of offering insight into many network phenomena.     

Reconstruction of genetic circuits

The complex genetic circuits found in cells are ordinarily studied by analysis of genetic and biochemical perturbations. The inherent modularity of biological components like genes and proteins enables a complementary approach: one can construct and analyse synthetic genetic circuits based on their natural counterparts. Such synthetic circuits can be used as simple in vivo models to explore the relation between the structure and function of a genetic circuit. Here we describe recent progress in this area of synthetic biology, highlighting newly developed genetic components and biological lessons learned from this approach.     

Integration of cytogenetic landmarks into the draft sequence of the human genome

We have placed 7,600 cytogenetically defined landmarks on the draft sequence of the human genome to help with the characterization of genes altered by gross chromosomal aberrations that cause human disease. The landmarks are large-insert clones mapped to chromosome bands by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Each clone contains a sequence tag that is positioned on the genomic sequence. This genome-wide set of sequence-anchored clones allows structural and functional analyses of the genome. This resource represents the first comprehensive integration of cytogenetic, radiation hybrid, linkage and sequence maps of the human genome; provides an independent validation of the sequence map and framework for contig order and orientation; surveys the genome for large-scale duplications, which are likely to require special attention during sequence assembly; and allows a stringent assessment of sequence differences between the dark and light bands of chromosomes. It also provides insight into large-scale chromatin structure and the evolution of chromosomes and gene families and will accelerate our understanding of the molecular bases of human disease and cancer.     

A unique set of polypeptides is induced by gamma interferon in addition to those induced in common with alpha and beta interferons

Human immune interferon (IFN-gamma) differs from leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha) and fibroblast interferon (IFN-beta) in cell origin, inducing agents, physical and biological properties and amino acid sequence. These differences have led to interest in possible differences in the biological properties of IFN-gamma compared with IFN-alpha and IFN-beta. IFN-gamma has the same broad range of biochemical and biological actions as do IFN-alpha and IFN-beta, although relative potencies vary depending on the cell type and function investigated. There has so far been no direct evidence that IFN-gamma alters normal cell functions differently from other interferons. We report here striking qualitative and quantitative differences in the intracellular response of human fibroblasts to IFN-gamma compared with IFN-alpha and IFN-beta. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis demonstrates, in addition to the induction of a common group of polypeptides, the existence of a set of polypeptides whose synthesis is uniquely induced by IFN-gamma.     

Intrinsic functional architecture in the anaesthetized monkey brain

The traditional approach to studying brain function is to measure physiological responses to controlled sensory, motor and cognitive paradigms. However, most of the brain's energy consumption is devoted to ongoing metabolic activity not clearly associated with any particular stimulus or behaviour. Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in humans aimed at understanding this ongoing activity have shown that spontaneous fluctuations of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal occur continuously in the resting state. In humans, these fluctuations are temporally coherent within widely distributed cortical systems that recapitulate the functional architecture of responses evoked by experimentally administered tasks. Here, we show that the same phenomenon is present in anaesthetized monkeys even at anaesthetic levels known to induce profound loss of consciousness. We specifically demonstrate coherent spontaneous fluctuations within three well known systems (oculomotor, somatomotor and visual) and the 'default' system, a set of brain regions thought by some to support uniquely human capabilities. Our results indicate that coherent system fluctuations probably reflect an evolutionarily conserved aspect of brain functional organization that transcends levels of consciousness.     

基于表达谱分析筛选肾母细胞瘤关键基因

为探究肾母细胞瘤(Nephroblastoma)发生的关键基因,并筛选出潜在的治疗靶点及生物标志,采用由GEO数据库获取的基因芯片GSE11151和GSE53224,经归一化处理后,通过GO和KEGG分析筛选出差异基因,并通过构建蛋白互作网络获得其中的关键基因.总计获得差异基因404个,其中上调基因385个,下调基因19个.PMCH、CCR5、CCR7、RGS1和KNG1作为关键基因,涉及趋化因子信号通路、G蛋白偶联信号通路,参与肿瘤微环境的形成.这5个关键基因在肾母细胞瘤的发生中有着重要作用,并可能作为潜在治疗靶点及生物标志.