Semi-Global Inference in Phenotype-Protein Network

Discovering genetic basis of diseases is an important goal and a challenging problem in bioinformatics research. Inspired by network-based global inference approach, Semi-global inference method is proposed to capture the complex associations between phenotypes and genes. The proposed method integrates phenotype similarities and protein-protein interactions, and it establishes the profile vectors of phenotypes and proteins. Then the relevance between each candidate gene and the target phenotype is evaluated. Candidate genes are then ranked according to relevance mark and genes that are potentially associated with target disease are identified based on this ranking. The model selects nodes in integrated phenotype-protein network for inference, by exploiting Phenotype Similarity Threshold (PST), which throws lights on selection of similar phenotypes for gene prediction problem. Different vector relevance metrics for computing the relevance marks of candidate genes are discussed. The performance of the model is evaluated on Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) data sets and experimental evaluation shows high performance of proposed Semi-global method outperforms existing global inference methods.

Interactome Mapping: Using Protein Microarray Technology to Reconstruct Diverse Protein Networks

A major focus of systems biology is to characterize interactions between cellular compo- nents, in order to develop an accurate picture of the intricate networks within biological systems. Over the past decade, protein microarrays have greatly contributed to advances in proteomics and are becoming an important platform for systems biology. Protein microarrays are highly flex- ible, ranging from large-scale proteome microarrays to smaller customizable microarrays, making the technology amenable for detection of a broad spectrum of biochemical properties of proteins. In this article, we will focus on the numerous studies that have utilized protein microarrays to recon- struct biological networks including protein-DNA interactions, posttranslational protein modifica- tions （PTMs）, lectin glycan recognition, pathogen-host interactions and hierarchical signaling cascades. The diversity in applications allows for integration of interaction data from numerous molecular classes and cellular states, providing insight into the structure of complex biological sys- tems. We will also discuss emerging applications and future directions of protein microarray tech- nology in the global frontier.

Protein interaction network related to Helicobacter pylori infection response

AIM:To understand the complex reaction of gastric inflammation induced by Helicobacter pylori(H pylori) in a systematic manner using a protein interaction network. METHODS:The expression of genes significantly changed on microarray during H pylori infection was scanned from the web literary database and translated into proteins.A network of protein interactions was constructed by searching the primary interactions of selected proteins.The constructed network was mathematically analyzed and its biological function was examined.In addition,the nodes on the network were checked to determine if they had any further functional importance or relation to other proteins by extending them. RESULTS:The scale-free network showing the relationship between inflammation and carcinogenesis was constructed.Mathematical analysis showed hub and bottleneck proteins,and these proteins were mostly related to immune response.The network contained pathways and proteins related to H pylori infection,such as the JAK-STAT pathway triggered by interleukins.Activation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB,TLR4,and other proteins known to function as core proteins of immune response were also found. These immune-related proteins interacted on the network with pathways and proteins related to the cell cycle,cell maintenance and proliferation,andtranscription regulators such as BRCA1,FOS,REL,and zinc finger proteins.The extension of nodes showed interactions of the immune proteins with cancer- related proteins.One extended network,the core network,a summarized form of the extended network, and cell pathway model were constructed. CONCLUSION:Immune-related proteins activated by H pylori infection interact with proto-oncogene proteins.The hub and bottleneck proteins are potential drug targets for gastric inflammation and cancer.

Integrated network analysis of transcriptomic and protein-protein interaction data in taurine-treated hepatic stellate cells

BACKGROUND Studies show that the antifibrotic mechanism of taurine may involve its inhibition of the activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells(HSCs). Since the molecular mechanism of taurine-mediated antifibrotic activity has not been fully unveiled and is little studied, it is imperative to use "omics" methods to systematically investigate the molecular mechanism by which taurine inhibits liver fibrosis.AIM To establish a network including transcriptomic and protein-protein interaction data to elucidate the molecular mechanism of taurine-induced HSC apoptosis.METHODS We used microarrays, bioinformatics, protein-protein interaction(PPI) network,and sub-modules to investigate taurine-induced changes in gene expression in human HSCs(LX-2). Subsequently, all of the differentially expressed genes(DEGs) were subjected to gene ontology function and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway enrichment analysis. Furthermore, the interactions of DEGs were explored in a human PPI network, and sub-modules of the DEGs interaction network were analyzed using Cytoscape software.RESULTS A total of 635 DEGs were identified in taurine-treated HSCs when compared with the controls. Of these, 304 genes were statistically significantly up-regulated, and 331 down-regulated. Most of these DEGs were mainly located on the membrane and extracellular region, and are involved in the biological processes of signal transduction, cell proliferation, positive regulation of extracellular regulated protein kinases 1(ERK1) and ERK2 cascade, extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway and so on. Fifteen significantly enriched pathways with DEGs were identified, including mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) signaling pathway, peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor signaling pathway,estrogen signaling pathway, Th1 and Th2 cell differentiation, cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling pathway and so on. By integrating the transcriptomics and human PPI data, nine critical genes, including MMP2, MMP9, MMP21,TIMP3, KLF10, CX3CR1, TGFB1, VEGFB, and EGF, were identified in the PPI network analysis.CONCLUSION Taurine promotes the apoptosis of HSCs via up-regulating TGFB1 and then activating the p38 MAPK-JNK-Caspase9/8/3 pathway. These findings enhance the understanding of the molecular mechanism of taurine-induced HSC apoptosis and provide references for liver disorder therapy.

Dynamic protein-protein interaction subnetworks of lung cancer in cases with smoking history

Smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer and is linked to 85% of lung cancer cases.However,how lung cancer develops in patients with smoking history remains unclear.Systems approaches that combine human protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks and gene expression data are superior to traditional methods.We performed these systems to determine the role that smoking plays in lung cancer development and used the support vector machine (SVM) model to predict PPIs.By defining expression variance (EV),we found 520 dynamic proteins (EV>0.4) using data from the Human Protein Reference Database and Gene Expression Omnibus Database,and built 7 dynamic PPI subnetworks of lung cancer in patients with smoking history.We also determined the primary functions of each subnetwork:signal transduction,apoptosis,and cell migration and adhesion for subnetwork A;cell-sustained angiogenesis for subnetwork B;apoptosis for subnetwork C;and,finally,signal transduction and cell replication and proliferation for subnetworks D-G.The probability distribution of the degree of dynamic protein and static protein differed,clearly showing that the dynamic proteins were not the core proteins which widely connected with their neighbor proteins.There were high correlations among the dynamic proteins,suggesting that the dynamic proteins tend to form specific dynamic modules.We also found that the dynamic proteins were only correlated with the expression of selected proteins but not all neighbor proteins when cancer occurred.

Folding rate prediction using complex network analysis for proteins with two- and three-state folding kinetics

It is a challenging task to investigate the different in- fluence of long-range and short-range interactions on two-state and three-state folding kinetics of protein. The networks of the 30 two-state proteins and 15 three-state proteins were constructed by complex networks analysis at three length scales: Protein Contact Networks, Long-range Interaction Networks and Short-range Interaction Networks. To uncover the relationship between structural properties and folding kinetics of the proteins, the correlations of protein network parameters with protein folding rate and topology parameters contact order were analyzed. The results show that Protein Contact Networks and Short-range Interaction Networks (for both two-state and three-state proteins) exhibit the “small-world” property and Long-range Interaction networks indicate “scale-free” behavior. Our results further indicate that all Protein Contact Networks and Short- range Interaction networks are assortative type. While some of Long-range Interaction Networks are of assortative type, the others are of disassortative type. For two-state proteins, the clustering coefficients of Short-range Interaction Networks show prominent correlation with folding rate and contact order. The assortativity coefficients of Short-range Interaction Networks also show remarkable correlation with folding rate and contact order. Similar correlations exist in Protein Contact Networks of three-state proteins. For two-state proteins, the correlation between contact order and folding rate is determined by the numbers of local contacts. Short- range interactions play a key role in determining the connecting trend among amino acids and they impact the folding rate of two-state proteins directly. For three-state proteins, the folding rate is determined by short-range and long-range interactions among residues together.

Evolution of a protein domain interaction network

In this paper, we attempt to understand complex network evolution from the underlying evolutionary relationship between biological organisms. Firstly, we construct a Pfam domain interaction network for each of the 470 completely sequenced organisms, and therefore each organism is correlated with a specific Pfam domain interaction network; secondly, we infer the evolutionary relationship of these organisms with the nearest neighbour joining method; thirdly, we use the evolutionary relationship between organisms constructed in the second step as the evolutionary course of the Pfam domain interaction network constructed in the first step. This analysis of the evolutionary course shows： （i） there is a conserved sub-network structure in network evolution; in this sub-network, nodes with lower degree prefer to maintain their connectivity invariant, and hubs tend to maintain their role as a hub is attached preferentially to new added nodes; （ii） few nodes are conserved as hubs; most of the other nodes are conserved as one with very low degree; （iii） in the course of network evolution, new nodes are added to the network either individually in most cases or as clusters with relative high clustering coefficients in a very few cases.

Construction of gene/protein interaction networks and enrichment pathway analysis for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and aplastic anemia

Background:To develop a protein-protein interaction network of Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria(PNH)and Aplastic anemia(AA)based on genetic genes and to predict pathways underlying the molecular complexes in the network.Methods:In this research,the PNH and AA-related genes were screened through Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM).The plugins and Cytoscape were used to search literature and build a protein-protein interaction network.Results:The protein-protein interaction network contains two molecular complexes that are five higher than the correlation integral values.The target genes of this study were obtained:CD59,STAT3,TERC,TNF,AKT1,C5AR1,EPO,IL6,IL10 and so on.We also found that many factors regulate biological behaviors:neutrophils,macrophages,vascular endothelial growth factor,immunoglobulin,interleukin,cytokine receptor,interleukin-6 receptor,tumor necrosis factor,and so on.This research provides a bioinformatics foundation for further explaining the mechanism of common development of both.Conclusion:This indicates that the PNH and AA is a complex process regulated by many cellular pathways and multiple genes.

Yeast protein-protein interaction network model based on biological experimental data

Duplication and divergence have been widely recognized as the two domi- nant evolutionary forces in shaping biological networks, e.g., gene regulatory networks and protein-protein interaction （PPI） networks. It has been shown that the network growth models constructed on the principle of duplication and divergence can recapture the topo- logical properties of real PPI networks. However, such network models only consider the evolution processes. How to select the model parameters with the real biological experi- mental data has not been presented. Therefore, based on the real PPI network statistical data, a yeast PPI network model is constructed. The simulation results indicate that the topological characteristics of the constructed network model are well consistent with those of real PPI networks, especially on sparseness, scale-free, small-world, hierarchical modularity, and disassortativity.

Neural Network Based on GA-BP Algorithm and its Application in the Protein Secondary Structure Prediction

The advantages and disadvantages of genetic algorithm and BP algorithm are introduced. A neural network based on GA-BP algorithm is proposed and applied in the prediction of protein secondary structure, which combines the advantages of BP and GA. The prediction and training on the neural network are made respectively based on 4 structure classifications of protein so as to get higher rate of predication---the highest prediction rate 75.65%,the average prediction rate 65.04%.

Searching maximum quasi-bicliques from protein-protein interaction network

Searching the maximum bicliques or bipartite subgraphs in a graph is a tough question. We proposed a new and efficient method, Searching Quasi-Bicliques (SQB) algorithm, to detect maximum quasi-bicliques from protein-protein interaction network. As a Divide-and-Conquer method, SQB consists of three steps: first, it divides the protein-protein interaction network into a number of Distance-2-Subgraphs;second, by combining top-down and branch-and-bound methods, SQB seeks quasi-bicliques from every Distance-2-Subgraph;third, all the redundant results are removed. We successfully applied our method on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae dataset and obtained 2754 distinct quasi-bicliques.

A Study on Protein Residue Contacts Prediction by Recurrent Neural Network

A new method was described for using a recurrent neural network with bias units to predict contact maps in proteins. The main inputs to the neural network include residues pairwise, residue classification according to hydrophobicity, polar, acidic, basic and secondary structure information and residue separation between two residues. In our work, a dataset was used which was composed of 53 globulin proteins of known 3D structure. An average predictive accuracy of 0.29 was obtained. Our results demonstrate the viability of the approach for predicting contact maps.

Essential proteins identification method based on four-order distances and subcellular localization information

Essential proteins are inseparable in cell growth and survival. The study of essential proteins is important for understanding cellular functions and biological mechanisms. Therefore, various computable methods have been proposed to identify essential proteins. Unfortunately, most methods based on network topology only consider the interactions between a protein and its neighboring proteins, and not the interactions with its higher-order distance proteins. In this paper, we propose the DSEP algorithm in which we integrated network topology properties and subcellular localization information in protein–protein interaction(PPI) networks based on four-order distances, and then used random walks to identify the essential proteins. We also propose a method to calculate the finite-order distance of the network, which can greatly reduce the time complexity of our algorithm. We conducted a comprehensive comparison of the DSEP algorithm with 11 existing classical algorithms to identify essential proteins with multiple evaluation methods. The results show that DSEP is superior to these 11 methods.

原发性骨质疏松潜在生物标志物的生物信息学分析

背景:原发性骨质疏松症的发病率高,但发病机制尚不完全清楚,目前尚缺乏有效的早期筛查指标和治疗方案。目的:通过综合生物信息学分析,进一步探索原发性骨质疏松症的发生机制。方法:原发性骨质疏松症数据来自公共基因表达数据库,筛选差异基因分别进行GO功能和KEGG通路富集分析。此外,将差异基因进行蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用网络确定原发性骨质疏松症相关核心基因,并通过最小绝对收缩和选择运算算法来识别并验证原发性骨质疏松症相关的生物标志物,并分别进行免疫细胞相关分析、基因富集分析以及药物标靶网络分析。最后将生物标志物行qPCR实验验证。结果与结论:①该研究中共获得126个差异基因以及前列腺素、表皮生长因子受体、丝裂原活化蛋白激酶3、转化生长因子B1和视网膜母细胞瘤基因1等5个生物标志物。②GO分析表明差异基因主要富集在细胞对氧化应激的反应以及自噬的调节等方面;KEGG分析显示主要集中在自噬以及细胞衰老等通路当中。③生物标志物的免疫分析发现,前列腺素,视网膜母细胞瘤基因1、丝裂原活化蛋白激酶3与免疫细胞密切相关。④基因富集分析表明,生物标志物与免疫相关途径有关。⑤药物标靶网络分析显示5个生物标志物与原发性骨质疏松症药物相关。⑥qPCR结果表明,前列腺素、表皮生长因子受体、丝裂原活化蛋白激酶3和转化生长因子B1在原发性骨质疏松症样本中,与对照样本相比表达显著上升(P<0.001),而视网膜母细胞瘤基因1在原发性骨质疏松症样本中,与对照样本相比表达显著下降(P<0.001)。⑦总之,该研究筛选并验证了5个原发性骨质疏松潜在生物标志物,为进一步深入探究原发性骨质疏松症的发病机制、早期筛查诊断及靶向治疗提供了参考依据。

Using Neural Networks to Predict Secondary Structure for Protein Folding

Protein Secondary Structure Prediction (PSSP) is considered as one of the major challenging tasks in bioinformatics, so many solutions have been proposed to solve that problem via trying to achieve more accurate prediction results. The goal of this paper is to develop and implement an intelligent based system to predict secondary structure of a protein from its primary amino acid sequence by using five models of Neural Network (NN). These models are Feed Forward Neural Network (FNN), Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ), Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and CNN Fine Tuning for PSSP. To evaluate our approaches two datasets have been used. The first one contains 114 protein samples, and the second one contains 1845 protein samples.

Mechanical properties of crosslinks controls failure mechanism of hierarchical intermediate filament networks

Intermediate filaments are one of the key components of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells, and their mechanical properties are found to be equally important for physiological function and disease. While the mechanical properties of single full length filaments have been studied, how the mechanical properties of crosslinks affect the mechanical property of the intermediate filament network is not well understood. This paper applies a mesoscopic model of the intermediate network with varied crosslink strengths to investigate its failure mechanism under the extreme mechanical loading. It finds that relatively weaker crosslinks lead to a more flaw tolerant intermediate filament network that is also 23% stronger than the one with strong crosslinks. These findings suggest that the mechanical properties of interfacial components are critical for bioinspired designs which provide intriguing mechanical properties.

Protein-HVGAE:一种双曲空间中的蛋白质编码方法

蛋白质相互作用(PPI)网络中的蛋白质功能预测、蛋白质交互预测和复合物识别是生物信息学的重要任务,非常依赖于对蛋白质的编码。由于PPI网络是由少量中枢节点主导的无标度网络,传统欧氏空间嵌入方法难以捕捉网络中的层次结构,导致蛋白质编码效果并不理想。提出一种基于双曲空间图嵌入的蛋白质自编码器Protein-HVGAE,该模型采用两个双曲图卷积网络作为编码器,计算隐藏层的均值和方差,并在不同曲率的双曲空间中捕捉网络的层次结构,以区分各节点的低维表示;采用Fermi-Dirac函数做解码器,在双曲空间上通过内积运算重构网络。实验结果表明,该模型在3个PPI数据集中的两个下游任务(PPI预测和蛋白质功能预测)上的表现优于以往在欧氏空间中的编码方法(在PPI预测中AUC值高于VGAE模型0.07左右,在蛋白质功能预测中Macro-F1值高于VGAE模型0.02左右)。

Identification of protein targets for the antidepressant effects of Kai-Xin-San in Chinese medicine using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation

Kai-Xin-San consists of Ginseng Radix, Polygalae Radix, Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma, and Poria at a ratio of 3:3:2:2. Kai-Xin-San has been widely used for the treatment of emotional disorders in China. However, no studies have identified the key proteins implicated in response to Kai-Xin-San treatment. In this study, rat models of chronic mild stress were established using different stress methods over 28 days. After 14 days of stress stimulation, rats received daily intragastric administrations of 600 mg/kg Kai-Xin-San. The sucrose preference test was used to determine depression-like behavior in rats, while isobaric tags were used for relative and absolute quantitation-based proteomics to identify altered proteins following Kai-Xin-San treatment. Kai-Xin-San treatment for 2 weeks noticeably improved depression-like behaviors in rats with chronic mild stress. We identified 33 differentially expressed proteins: 7 were upregulated and 26 were downregulated. Functional analysis showed that these differentially expressed proteins participate in synaptic plasticity, neurodevelopment, and neurogenesis. Our results indicate that Kai-Xin-San has an important role in regulating the key node proteins in the synaptic signaling network, and are helpful to better understand the mechanism of the antidepressive effects of Kai-Xin-San and to provide objective theoretical support for its clinical application. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Research from the Chinese PLA General Hospital(approval No. X5-2016-07) on March 5, 2016.

Protein microarray analysis of cytokine expression changes in distal stumps after sciatic nerve transection

A large number of chemokines,cytokines,other trophic factors and the extracellular matrix molecules form a favorable microenvironment for peripheral nerve regeneration.This microenvironment is one of the major factors for regenerative success.Therefore,it is important to investigate the key molecules and regulators affecting nerve regeneration after peripheral nerve injury.However,the identities of specific cytokines at various time points after sciatic nerve injury have not been determined.The study was performed by transecting the sciatic nerve to establish a model of peripheral nerve injury and to analyze,by protein microarray,the expression of different cytokines in the distal nerve after injury.Results showed a large number of cytokines were up-regulated at different time points post injury and several cytokines,e.g.,ciliary neurotrophic factor,were downregulated.The construction of a protein-protein interaction network was used to screen how the proteins interacted with differentially expressed cytokines.Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway and Gene ontology analyses indicated that the differentially expressed cytokines were significantly associated with chemokine signaling pathways,Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription,phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B,and notch signaling pathway.The cytokines involved in inflammation,immune response and cell chemotaxis were up-regulated initially and the cytokines involved in neuronal apoptotic processes,cell-cell adhesion,and cell proliferation were up-regulated at 28 days after injury.Western blot analysis showed that the expression and changes of hepatocyte growth factor,glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor and ciliary neurotrophic factor were consistent with the results of protein microarray analysis.The results provide a comprehensive understanding of changes in cytokine expression and changes in these cytokines and classical signaling pathways and biological functions during Wallerian degeneration,as well as a basis for potential treatments of peripheral nerve injury.The study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Chinese PLA General Hospital,China(approval number:2016-x9-07)in September 2016.

Prediction Method of Protein Disulfide Bond Based on Pattern Selection

The effect of the different training samples is different for the classifier when pattern recognition system is established. The training samples were selected randomly in the past protein disulfide bond prediction methods, therefore the prediction accuracy of protein contact was reduced. In order to improve the influence of training samples, a prediction method of protein disulfide bond on the basis of pattern selection and Radical Basis Function neural network has been brought forward in this paper. The attributes related with protein disulfide bond are extracted and coded in the method and pattern selection is used to select training samples from coded samples in order to improve the precision of protein disulfide bond prediction. 200 proteins with disulfide bond structure from the PDB database are encoded according to the encoding approach and are taken as models of training samples. Then samples are taken on the pattern selection based on the nearest neighbor algorithm and corresponding prediction models are set by using RBF neural network. The simulation experiment result indicates that this method of pattern selection can improve the prediction accuracy of protein disulfide bond.