Results 1 - 10
of
53
Using biological pathway data with paxtools
- PLoS Comput. Biol
, 2013
"... A rapidly growing corpus of formal, computable pathway information can be used to answer important biological questions including finding non-trivial connections between cellular processes, identifying significantly altered portions of the cellular network in a disease state and building predictive ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 10 (7 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
A rapidly growing corpus of formal, computable pathway information can be used to answer important biological questions including finding non-trivial connections between cellular processes, identifying significantly altered portions of the cellular network in a disease state and building predictive models that can be used for precision medicine. Due to its complexity and fragmented nature, however, working with pathway data is still difficult. We present Paxtools, a Java library that contains algorithms, software components and converters for biological pathways represented in the standard BioPAX language. Paxtools allows scientists to focus on their scientific problem by removing technical barriers to access and analyse pathway information. Paxtools can run on any platform that has a Java Runtime Environment and was tested on most modern operating systems. Paxtools is open source and is available under the Lesser GNU public license (LGPL), which allows users to freely use the code in their software systems with a requirement for attribution. Source code for the current release (4.2.0) can be found in Software S1. A detailed manual for obtaining and using Paxtools can be found in Protocol S1. The latest sources and release bundles can be obtained from biopax.org/paxtools.
Dual Coordination of Post Translational Modifications in Human Protein Networks
, 2012
"... Post-translational modifications (PTMs) regulate protein activity, stability and interaction profiles and are critical for cellular functioning. Further regulation is gained through PTM interplay whereby modifications modulate the occurrence of other PTMs or act in combination. Integration of global ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 3 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Post-translational modifications (PTMs) regulate protein activity, stability and interaction profiles and are critical for cellular functioning. Further regulation is gained through PTM interplay whereby modifications modulate the occurrence of other PTMs or act in combination. Integration of global acetylation, ubiquitination and tyrosine or serine/threonine phosphorylation datasets with protein interaction data identified hundreds of protein complexes that selectively accumulate each PTM, indicating coordinated targeting of specific molecular functions. A second layer of PTM coordination exists in these complexes, mediated by PTM integration (PTMi) spots. PTMi spots represent very dense modification patterns in disordered protein regions and showed an equally high mutation rate as functional protein domains in cancer, inferring equivocal importance for cellular functioning. Systematic PTMi spot identification highlighted more than 300 candidate proteins for combinatorial PTM regulation. This study reveals two global PTM coordination mechanisms and emphasizes dataset integration as requisite in proteomic PTM studies to better predict modification impact on cellular signaling.
A rticle Testing for Associations between Loci and Environmental Gradients Using Latent Factor Mixed Models
"... Adaptation to local environments often occurs through natural selection acting on a large number of loci, each having a weak phenotypic effect. One way to detect these loci is to identify genetic polymorphisms that exhibit high correlation with environmental variables used as proxies for ecological ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 3 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
Adaptation to local environments often occurs through natural selection acting on a large number of loci, each having a weak phenotypic effect. One way to detect these loci is to identify genetic polymorphisms that exhibit high correlation with environmental variables used as proxies for ecological pressures. Here, we propose new algorithms based on population genetics, ecological modeling, and statistical learning techniques to screen genomes for signatures of local adaptation. Implemented in the computer program “latent factor mixed model ” (LFMM), these algorithms employ an approach in which population structure is introduced using unobserved variables. These fast and computationally efficient algorithms detect correlations between environmental and genetic variation while simultaneously inferring background levels of population structure. Comparing these new algorithms with related methods provides evidence that LFMM can efficiently estimate random effects due to population history and isolation-by-distance patterns when computing gene-environment correlations, and decrease the number of false-positive associations in genome scans. We then apply these models to plant and human genetic data, identifying several genes with functions related to develop-ment that exhibit strong correlations with climatic gradients. Key words: local adaptation, environmental correlations, genome scans, latent factor models, population structure.
A Kinome-Wide RNAi Screen in Drosophila Glia Reveals That the RIO Kinases Mediate Cell Proliferation and Survival through TORC2-Akt Signaling in Glioblastoma
"... Glioblastoma, the most common primary malignant brain tumor, is incurable with current therapies. Genetic and molecular analyses demonstrate that glioblastomas frequently display mutations that activate receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) and Pi-3 kinase (PI3K) signaling pathways. In Drosophila melanogas ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 2 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Glioblastoma, the most common primary malignant brain tumor, is incurable with current therapies. Genetic and molecular analyses demonstrate that glioblastomas frequently display mutations that activate receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) and Pi-3 kinase (PI3K) signaling pathways. In Drosophila melanogaster, activation of RTK and PI3K pathways in glial progenitor cells creates malignant neoplastic glial tumors that display many features of human glioblastoma. In both human and Drosophila, activation of the RTK and PI3K pathways stimulates Akt signaling along with other as-yet-unknown changes that drive oncogenesis. We used this Drosophila glioblastoma model to perform a kinome-wide genetic screen for new genes required for RTK- and PI3K-dependent neoplastic transformation. Human orthologs of novel kinases uncovered by these screens were functionally assessed in mammalian glioblastoma models and human tumors. Our results revealed that the atypical kinases RIOK1 and RIOK2 are overexpressed in glioblastoma cells in an Akt-dependent manner. Moreover, we found that overexpressed RIOK2 formed a complex with RIOK1, mTor, and mTor-complex-2 components, and that overexpressed RIOK2 upregulated Akt signaling and promoted tumorigenesis in murine astrocytes. Conversely, reduced expression of RIOK1 or RIOK2 disrupted Akt signaling and caused cell cycle exit, apoptosis, and chemosensitivity in glioblastoma cells by
LAceP: Lysine acetylation site prediction using logistic regression classifiers
- PLoS ONE
"... Background: Lysine acetylation is a crucial type of protein post-translational modification, which is involved in many important cellular processes and serious diseases. However, identification of protein acetylated sites through traditional experiment methods is time-consuming and laborious. Those ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 2 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Background: Lysine acetylation is a crucial type of protein post-translational modification, which is involved in many important cellular processes and serious diseases. However, identification of protein acetylated sites through traditional experiment methods is time-consuming and laborious. Those methods are not suitable to identify a large number of acetylated sites quickly. Therefore, computational methods are still very valuable to accelerate lysine acetylated site finding. Result: In this study, many biological characteristics of acetylated sites have been investigated, such as the amino acid sequence around the acetylated sites, the physicochemical property of the amino acids and the transition probability of adjacent amino acids. A logistic regression method was then utilized to integrate these information for generating a novel lysine acetylation prediction system named LAceP. When compared with existing methods, LAceP overwhelms most of state-of-the-art methods. Especially, LAceP has a more balanced prediction capability for positive and negative datasets. Conclusion: LAceP can integrate different biological features to predict lysine acetylation with high accuracy. An online web
Using Bacteria to Determine Protein Kinase Specificity and Predict Target Substrates
, 2016
"... (Article begins on next page) The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 1 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
(Article begins on next page) The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters.
Developmentally-Dynamic Murine Brain Proteomes and Phosphoproteomes Revealed by Quantitative Proteomics
"... Developmental processes are governed by a diverse suite of signaling pathways employing reversible phosphorylation. Recent advances in large-scale phosphoproteomic methodologies have made possible the identification and quantification of hundreds to thousands of phosphorylation sites from primary ti ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 1 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Developmental processes are governed by a diverse suite of signaling pathways employing reversible phosphorylation. Recent advances in large-scale phosphoproteomic methodologies have made possible the identification and quantification of hundreds to thousands of phosphorylation sites from primary tissues. Towards a global characterization of proteomic changes across brain development, we present the results of a large-scale quantitative mass spectrometry study comparing embryonic, newborn and adult murine brain. Using anti-phosphotyrosine immuno-affinity chromatography and strong cation exchange (SCX) chromatography, coupled to immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC), we identified and quantified over 1,750 phosphorylation sites and over 1,300 proteins between three developmental states. Bioinformatic analyses highlight functions associated with the identified proteins and phosphoproteins and their enrichment at distinct developmental stages. These results serve as a primary reference resource and reveal dynamic developmental profiles of proteins and phosphoproteins from the developing murine brain. Keywords brain development; phosphoproteomics; phosphorylation; quantitative mass spectrometry; reductive amination 1.
The Thoc1 encoded ribonucleoprotein is a substrate for the NEDD4-1 E3 ubiquitin protein ligase. PLoS One 2013; 8: e57995
"... Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes form around nascent RNA during transcription to facilitate proper transcriptional elongation, RNA processing, and nuclear export. RNPs are highly heterogeneous, and different types of RNPs tend to package functionally related transcripts. These observations have ins ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 1 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes form around nascent RNA during transcription to facilitate proper transcriptional elongation, RNA processing, and nuclear export. RNPs are highly heterogeneous, and different types of RNPs tend to package functionally related transcripts. These observations have inspired the hypothesis that RNP mediated mechanisms help specify coordinated gene expression. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that mutations in RNP components can cause defects in specific developmental pathways. How RNP biogenesis itself is regulated, however, is not well understood. The evolutionarily conserved THO RNP complex functions early during transcription to package nascent transcripts and facilitate subsequent RNP biogenesis. THO deficiency compromises transcriptional elongation as well as RNP mediated events like 39 end formation and nuclear export for some transcripts. Using molecularly manipulated cells and in vitro reconstituted biochemical reactions, we demonstrate that the essential THO protein component encoded by the Thoc1 gene is poly-ubiquitinated by the NEDD4-1 E3 ubiquitin ligase. Poly-ubiquitinated pThoc1 is degraded by the proteasome. These results indicate THO activity is regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, and that this regulation is evolutionarily conserved between yeast and mammals. Manipulation of NEDD4-1 levels has modest effects on Thoc1 protein levels under steady state conditions, but destabilization of Thoc1 protein upon treatment with a transcriptional elongation inhibitor is dependent on NEDD4-1. This suggests NEDD4-1 functions in conjunction with other post-translational mechanisms to regulate Thoc1 protein and THO activity.
Inferring Protein Modulation from Gene Expression Data Using Conditional Mutual Information
, 2014
"... Systematic, high-throughput dissection of causal post-translational regulatory dependencies, on a genome wide basis, is still one of the great challenges of biology. Due to its complexity, however, only a handful of computational algorithms have been developed for this task. Here we present CINDy (C ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 1 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Systematic, high-throughput dissection of causal post-translational regulatory dependencies, on a genome wide basis, is still one of the great challenges of biology. Due to its complexity, however, only a handful of computational algorithms have been developed for this task. Here we present CINDy (Conditional Inference of Network Dynamics), a novel algorithm for the genome-wide, context specific inference of regulatory dependencies between signaling protein and transcription factor activity, from gene expression data. The algorithm uses a novel adaptive partitioning methodology to accurately estimate the full Condition Mutual Information (CMI) between a transcription factor and its targets, given the expression of a signaling protein. We show that CMI analysis is optimally suited to dissecting post-translational dependencies. Indeed, when tested against a gold standard dataset of experimentally validated protein-protein interactions in signal transduction
Adaptor Proteins Intersectin 1 and 2 Bind Similar Proline- Rich Ligands but Are Differentially Recognized by SH2 Domain-Containing Proteins
"... Background: Scaffolding proteins of the intersectin (ITSN) family, ITSN1 and ITSN2, are crucial for the initiation stage of clathrin-mediated endocytosis. These proteins are closely related but have implications in distinct pathologies. To determine how these proteins could be separated in certain c ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 1 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Background: Scaffolding proteins of the intersectin (ITSN) family, ITSN1 and ITSN2, are crucial for the initiation stage of clathrin-mediated endocytosis. These proteins are closely related but have implications in distinct pathologies. To determine how these proteins could be separated in certain cell pathways we performed a comparative study of ITSNs. Methodology/Principal Findings:We have shown that endogenous ITSN1 and ITSN2 colocalize and form a complex in cells. A structural comparison of five SH3 domains, which mediated most ITSNs protein-protein interactions, demonstrated a similarity of their ligand-binding sites. We showed that the SH3 domains of ITSN2 bound well-established interactors of ITSN1 as well as newly identified ITSNs protein partners. A search for a novel interacting interface revealed multiple tyrosines that could be phosphorylated in ITSN2. Phosphorylation of ITSN2 isoforms but not ITSN1 short isoform was observed in various cell lines. EGF stimulation of HeLa cells enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation of ITSN2 isoforms and enabled their recognition by the SH2 domains of the Fyn, Fgr and Abl1 kinases, the regulatory subunit of PI3K, the adaptor proteins Grb2 and Crk, and phospholipase C gamma. The SH2 domains mentioned were unable to bind ITSN1 short isoform. Conclusions/Significance: Our results indicate that during evolution of vertebrates ITSN2 acquired a novel protein-interaction interface that allows its specific recognition by the SH2 domains of signaling proteins. We propose that these
