Wuttichai Mhuantong. Function Linkage Analysis and Regulatory Network Reconstruction of Starch Related Genes Based on the 2nd-Order Expression Analysis. Master's Degree(Bioinformatics). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2008.
Function Linkage Analysis and Regulatory Network Reconstruction of Starch Related Genes Based on the 2nd-Order Expression Analysis
Abstract:
Up to now, the global view of all plant genes affecting starch biosynthesis process in plant has yet to be fully understood because previous studies have mainly focused on genes in starch metabolism only. Hence, my work attempts to identify genes that are functionally linked to known starch genes and reconstruct the regulatory network of those genes. To achieve this goal, the 2nd-order expression analysis and various bioinformatics tools have been applied to analyze the functional linkage and reconstruct the regulatory network of starch related genes. By analyzing sets of microarray data of Arabidopsis thaliana, 8 genes in starch metabolism have been found to functionally link to 21 genes in other 12 metabolisms such as glutathione, purine, and galactose metabolisms. This result implies that those genes might affect the starch biosynthesis process. The result from the starch regulatory network reconstruction consists of clusters of genes that are regulated by the same transcription factors and their correlations across the gene clusters. Ten clusters of genes are likely controlled by two transcription factors. These results indicate that some genes in the starch and other metabolisms may be regulated by the same transcription factors and expressed together at the same time. This set of the starch related genes can be used as a starting point to expand the scope of starch metabolism study. Moreover, the procedure for functional linkage analysis and regulatory network reconstruction established in this study can also be applied to study other metabolisms.