Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functional genomics studies are yielding information about regulatory processes in the cell at an unprecedented scale. In the yeast <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, DNA microarrays have not only been used to measure the mRNA abund...

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Main Authors: Bussemaker Harmen J, Foat Barrett C, Gao Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2004-03-01
Series:BMC Bioinformatics
Online Access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/5/31
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author Bussemaker Harmen J
Foat Barrett C
Gao Feng
author_facet Bussemaker Harmen J
Foat Barrett C
Gao Feng
author_sort Bussemaker Harmen J
collection DOAJ
description <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functional genomics studies are yielding information about regulatory processes in the cell at an unprecedented scale. In the yeast <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, DNA microarrays have not only been used to measure the mRNA abundance for all genes under a variety of conditions but also to determine the occupancy of all promoter regions by a large number of transcription factors. The challenge is to extract useful information about the global regulatory network from these data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present MA-Networker, an algorithm that combines microarray data for mRNA expression and transcription factor occupancy to define the regulatory network of the cell. Multivariate regression analysis is used to infer the activity of each transcription factor, and the correlation across different conditions between this activity and the mRNA expression of a gene is interpreted as regulatory coupling strength. Applying our method to <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, we find that, on average, 58% of the genes whose promoter region is bound by a transcription factor are true regulatory targets. These results are validated by an analysis of enrichment for functional annotation, response for transcription factor deletion, and over-representation of cis-regulatory motifs. We are able to assign directionality to transcription factors that control divergently transcribed genes sharing the same promoter region. Finally, we identify an intrinsic limitation of transcription factor deletion experiments related to the combinatorial nature of transcriptional control, to which our approach provides an alternative.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our reliable classification of ChIP positives into functional and non-functional TF targets based on their expression pattern across a wide range of conditions provides a starting point for identifying the unknown sequence features in non-coding DNA that directly or indirectly determine the context dependence of transcription factor action. Complete analysis results are available for browsing or download at <url>http://bussemaker.bio.columbia.edu/papers/MA-Networker/</url>.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-9992b1df9111413085b867d9ffa9a06c2022-12-21T20:28:56ZengBMCBMC Bioinformatics1471-21052004-03-01513110.1186/1471-2105-5-31Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding dataBussemaker Harmen JFoat Barrett CGao Feng<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functional genomics studies are yielding information about regulatory processes in the cell at an unprecedented scale. In the yeast <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, DNA microarrays have not only been used to measure the mRNA abundance for all genes under a variety of conditions but also to determine the occupancy of all promoter regions by a large number of transcription factors. The challenge is to extract useful information about the global regulatory network from these data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present MA-Networker, an algorithm that combines microarray data for mRNA expression and transcription factor occupancy to define the regulatory network of the cell. Multivariate regression analysis is used to infer the activity of each transcription factor, and the correlation across different conditions between this activity and the mRNA expression of a gene is interpreted as regulatory coupling strength. Applying our method to <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, we find that, on average, 58% of the genes whose promoter region is bound by a transcription factor are true regulatory targets. These results are validated by an analysis of enrichment for functional annotation, response for transcription factor deletion, and over-representation of cis-regulatory motifs. We are able to assign directionality to transcription factors that control divergently transcribed genes sharing the same promoter region. Finally, we identify an intrinsic limitation of transcription factor deletion experiments related to the combinatorial nature of transcriptional control, to which our approach provides an alternative.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our reliable classification of ChIP positives into functional and non-functional TF targets based on their expression pattern across a wide range of conditions provides a starting point for identifying the unknown sequence features in non-coding DNA that directly or indirectly determine the context dependence of transcription factor action. Complete analysis results are available for browsing or download at <url>http://bussemaker.bio.columbia.edu/papers/MA-Networker/</url>.</p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/5/31
spellingShingle Bussemaker Harmen J
Foat Barrett C
Gao Feng
Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data
BMC Bioinformatics
title Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data
title_full Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data
title_fullStr Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data
title_full_unstemmed Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data
title_short Defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mRNA expression and transcription factor binding data
title_sort defining transcriptional networks through integrative modeling of mrna expression and transcription factor binding data
url http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/5/31
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