CeBiTec Colloquium: 2009/05/25
Prof. Dr. Edgar Wingender
Department of Bioinformatics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg August University, Göttingen; BIOBASE GmbH, Wolfenbüttel, Germany

2009/05/25, 17:15

CeBiTec Building, Room G2-104

Integrated promoter and pathway analysis: A novel concept to identify potential drug targets

Abstract:

Making use of datasets that have been gathered for many years, different kinds of networks (transcriptional, signaling, metabolic and protein interaction networks) have been constructed and analyzed for their specific features. For this, existing tools have been employed to compute well-known topological network characteristics, but also a new parameter (pairwise disconnectivity index) has been proposed for and proven in the identification of most critical components in a given network. To identify (sub-)networks that are relevant in a certain biological context, experimental data from transcriptomics or proteomics studies are being mapped onto known networks to characterize the molecular consequences of the process under study. However, generating hypotheses about the causes and master regulators of that process, “upstream analysis” in terms of an integrated promoter and pathway analysis is required. Necessary steps of the corresponding workflow are (i) a state-of-the-art prediction of individual transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) in the promoters of co-regulated genes; (ii) reliable identification of the TFBS combinations being effective in these promoters (“promoter modules”); (iii) the data basis to identify the transcription factors (TFs) involved in the regulation of these promoters via the identified modules; (iv) efficient algorithms to identify the signaling cascades that regulate the activity of these TFs. Proof-of-principle as well as the present constraints of this concept will be given and discussed.

Host: Prof. Dr. Ralf Hofestädt