Inference and Evolutionary Analysis of Genome-Scale Regulatory Networks in Large Phylogenies.

Cell Syst
Authors
Abstract

Changes in transcriptional regulatory networks can significantly contribute to species evolution and adaptation. However, identification of genome-scale regulatory networks is an open challenge, especially in non-model organisms. Here, we introduce multi-species regulatory network learning (MRTLE), a computational approach that uses phylogenetic structure, sequence-specific motifs, and transcriptomic data, to infer the regulatory networks in different species. Using simulated data from known networks and transcriptomic data from six divergent yeasts, we demonstrate that MRTLE predicts networks with greater accuracy than existing methods because it incorporates phylogenetic information. We used MRTLE to infer the structure of the transcriptional networks that control the osmotic stress responses of divergent, non-model yeast species and then validated our predictions experimentally. Interrogating these networks reveals that gene duplication promotes network divergence across evolution. Taken together, our approach facilitates study of regulatory network evolutionary dynamics across multiple poorly studied species.

Year of Publication
2017
Journal
Cell Syst
Volume
4
Issue
5
Pages
543-558.e8
Date Published
2017 May 24
ISSN
2405-4712
DOI
10.1016/j.cels.2017.04.010
PubMed ID
28544882
PubMed Central ID
PMC5515301
Links
Grant list
Wellcome Trust / United Kingdom
DP1 OD003958 / OD / NIH HHS / United States
R01 CA119176 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States