On the contributions of topological features to transcriptional regulatory network robustness

BMC Bioinformatics - Tập 13 - Trang 1-12 - 2012
Faiyaz Al Zamal1, Derek Ruths1
1School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Tóm tắt

Because biological networks exhibit a high-degree of robustness, a systemic understanding of their architecture and function requires an appraisal of the network design principles that confer robustness. In this project, we conduct a computational study of the contribution of three degree-based topological properties (transcription factor-target ratio, degree distribution, cross-talk suppression) and their combinations on the robustness of transcriptional regulatory networks. We seek to quantify the relative degree of robustness conferred by each property (and combination) and also to determine the extent to which these properties alone can explain the robustness observed in transcriptional networks. To study individual properties and their combinations, we generated synthetic, random networks that retained one or more of the three properties with values derived from either the yeast or E. coli gene regulatory networks. Robustness of these networks were estimated through simulation. Our results indicate that the combination of the three properties we considered explains the majority of the structural robustness observed in the real transcriptional networks. Surprisingly, scale-free degree distribution is, overall, a minor contributor to robustness. Instead, most robustness is gained through topological features that limit the complexity of the overall network and increase the transcription factor subnetwork sparsity. Our work demonstrates that (i) different types of robustness are implemented by different topological aspects of the network and (ii) size and sparsity of the transcription factor subnetwork play an important role for robustness induction. Our results are conserved across yeast and E Coli, which suggests that the design principles examined are present within an array of living systems.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Kitano H: Biological robustness. Nat Rev Genet 2004, 5(11):826–837. Kwon Y, Cho K: Quantitative analysis of robustness and fragility in biological networks based on feedback dynamics. Bioinformatics 2008, 24(7):987. 10.1093/bioinformatics/btn060 Little J, Shepley D, Wert D: Robustness of a gene regulatory circuit. EMBO J 1999, 18(15):4299–4307. 10.1093/emboj/18.15.4299 Alon U, Surette M, Barkai N, Leibler S: Robustness in bacterial chemotaxis. Nature 1999, 397(6715):168–171. 10.1038/16483 Giaever G, Chu A, Ni L, Connelly C, Riles L, Véronneau S, Dow S, Lucau-Danila A, Anderson K, André B, et al.: Functional profiling of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. Nature 2002, 418(6896):387–391. 10.1038/nature00935 Li F, Long T, Lu Y, Ouyang Q, Tang C: The yeast cell-cycle network is robustly designed. Proc Nat Acad Sci 2004, 101(14):4781. 10.1073/pnas.0305937101 Ingolia N: Topology and robustness in the Drosophila segment polarity network. PLoS Biology 2004, 2(6):e123. 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020123 Albert R, Othmer H: The topology of the regulatory interactions predicts the expression pattern of the segment polarity genes in Drosophila melanogaster. J Theor Biol 2003, 223: 1–18. 10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00035-3 Barabási A, Oltvai Z: Network biology: understanding the cell’s functional organization. Nat Rev Genet 2004, 5(2):101–113. 10.1038/nrg1272 Milo R, Shen-Orr S, Itzkovitz S, Kashtan N, Chklovskii D, Alon U: Network motifs: simple building blocks of complex networks. Science 2002, 298(5594):824. 10.1126/science.298.5594.824 Wuchty S, Oltvai Z, Barabási A: Evolutionary conservation of motif constituents in the yeast protein interaction network. Nat Genet 2003, 35(2):176–179. 10.1038/ng1242 Albert R, Jeong H, Barabási A: Error and attack tolerance of complex networks. Nature 2000, 406(6794):378–382. 10.1038/35019019 Maslov S, Sneppen K: Specificity and stability in topology of protein networks. Science 2002, 296(5569):910. 10.1126/science.1065103 Prill R, Iglesias P, Levchenko A: Dynamic properties of network motifs contribute to biological network organization. PLoS biology 2005, 3(11):1881. McDonald D, Waterbury L, Knight R, Betterton M: Activating and inhibiting connections in biological network dynamics. Biology Direct 2008, 3: 49. 10.1186/1745-6150-3-49 Greenbury S, Johnston I, Smith M, Doye J, Louis A: The effect of scale-free topology on the robustness and evolvability of genetic regulatory networks. J Theor Biol 2010, 267: 48–61. 10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.08.006 Bollobás B, Riordan O: Robustness and vulnerability of scale-free random graphs. Internet Mathematics 2004, 1: 1–35. 10.1080/15427951.2004.10129080 Guelzim N, Bottani S, Bourgine P, Képès F: Topological and causal structure of the yeast transcriptional regulatory network. Nat Genet 2002, 31: 61. Bergman A, Siegal M, et al.: Evolutionary capacitance as a general feature of complex gene networks. Nature 2003, 424(6948):549–552. 10.1038/nature01765 Siegal M, Promislow D, Bergman A: Functional and evolutionary inference in gene networks: does topology matter? Genetica 2007, 129: 83–103. Babu M, Luscombe N, Aravind L, Gerstein M, Teichmann S: Structure and evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2004, 14(3):283–291. 10.1016/j.sbi.2004.05.004 Nimwegen E: Scaling laws in the functional content of genomes. Trends in Genet 2003, 19: 479–484. 10.1016/S0168-9525(03)00203-8 Reece-Hoyes J, Deplancke B, Shingles J, Grove C, Hope I, Walhout A: A compendium of Caenorhabditis elegans regulatory transcription factors: a resource for mapping transcription regulatory networks. Genome Biol 2005, 6(13):R110. 10.1186/gb-2005-6-13-r110 Gama-Castro S, Salgado H, Peralta-Gil M, Santos-Zavaleta A, Muñiz-Rascado L, Solano-Lira H, Jimenez-Jacinto V, Weiss V, García-Sotelo JS, López-Fuentes A, et al.: RegulonDB version 7.0: transcriptional regulation of Escherichia coli K-12 integrated within genetic sensory response units (Gensor Units). Nucleic Acids Res 2011, 39(suppl 1):D98-D105. Yu H, Gerstein M: Genomic analysis of the hierarchical structure of regulatory networks. Proc Nat Acad Sci 2006, 103(40):14724–14731. 10.1073/pnas.0508637103 Bhardwaj N, Yan K, Gerstein M: Analysis of diverse regulatory networks in a hierarchical context shows consistent tendencies for collaboration in the middle levels. Proc Nat Acad Sci 2010, 107(15):6841. 10.1073/pnas.0910867107 Jothi R, Balaji S, Wuster A, Grochow J, Gsponer J, Przytycka T, Aravind L, Babu M: Genomic analysis reveals a tight link between transcription factor dynamics and regulatory network architecture. Mol Syst Biol 2009, 5: 294. Jovelin R, Phillips P, et al.: Evolutionary rates and centrality in the yeast gene regulatory network. Genome Biol 2009, 10(4):R35. 10.1186/gb-2009-10-4-r35 Ciliberti S, Martin O, Wagner A: Robustness can evolve gradually in complex regulatory gene networks with varying topology. PLoS Comput Biol 2007, 3(2):e15. 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030015 van Dijk A, van Mourik S, van Ham R: Mutational robustness of gene regulatory networks. PloS one 2012, 7: e30591. 10.1371/journal.pone.0030591 Molloy M, Reed B: A critical point for random graphs with a given degree sequence. Random Structures and Algorithms 1995, 6(2–3):161–180. 10.1002/rsa.3240060204 Kashtan N, Itzkovitz S, Milo R, Alon U: Efficient sampling algorithm for estimating subgraph concentrations and detecting network motifs. Bioinformatics 2004, 20(11):1746. 10.1093/bioinformatics/bth163 Wernicke S, Rasche F: FANMOD: a tool for fast network motif detection. Bioinformatics 2006, 22(9):1152–1153. 10.1093/bioinformatics/btl038 Wagner A: Robustness and evolvability: a paradox resolved. Proc R Soc B: Biol Sci 2008, 275(1630):91. 10.1098/rspb.2007.1137 Wagner A: Does evolutionary plasticity evolve? Evolution 1996, 50(3):1008–1023. 10.2307/2410642 Leclerc R: Survival of the sparsest: robust gene networks are parsimonious. Mol Syst Biol 2008, 4: 213. Matys V, Fricke E, Geffers R, Goessling E, Haubrock M, Hehl R, Hornischer K, Karas D, Kel A, Kel-Margoulis O, et al.: TRANSFAC®;: transcriptional regulation, from patterns to profiles. Nucleic Acids Res 2003, 31: 374–378. 10.1093/nar/gkg108 Cherry J, Adler C, Ball C, Chervitz S, Dwight S, Hester E, Jia Y, Juvik G, Roe T, Schroeder M, et al.: SGD: Saccharomyces genome database. Nucleic Acids Res 1998, 26: 73–79. 10.1093/nar/26.1.73 Bell-Pedersen D, Cassone V, Earnest D, Golden S, Hardin P, Thomas T, Zoran M: Circadian rhythms from multiple oscillators: lessons from diverse organisms. Nat Rev Genet 2005, 6(7):544–556. 10.1038/nrg1633 Hagberg A, Swart P, S Chult D: Exploring network structure, dynamics, and function using NetworkX. 2008. Tech. rep., Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Oliphant T: Python for scientific computing. Comput Sci & Eng 2007, 9(3):10–20.