Wisdom of crowds for robust gene network inference.

Nat Methods
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Reconstructing gene regulatory networks from high-throughput data is a long-standing challenge. Through the Dialogue on Reverse Engineering Assessment and Methods (DREAM) project, we performed a comprehensive blind assessment of over 30 network inference methods on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in silico microarray data. We characterize the performance, data requirements and inherent biases of different inference approaches, and we provide guidelines for algorithm application and development. We observed that no single inference method performs optimally across all data sets. In contrast, integration of predictions from multiple inference methods shows robust and high performance across diverse data sets. We thereby constructed high-confidence networks for E. coli and S. aureus, each comprising ~1,700 transcriptional interactions at a precision of ~50%. We experimentally tested 53 previously unobserved regulatory interactions in E. coli, of which 23 (43%) were supported. Our results establish community-based methods as a powerful and robust tool for the inference of transcriptional gene regulatory networks.

Year of Publication
2012
Journal
Nat Methods
Volume
9
Issue
8
Pages
796-804
Date Published
2012 Jul 15
ISSN
1548-7105
URL
DOI
10.1038/nmeth.2016
PubMed ID
22796662
PubMed Central ID
PMC3512113
Links
Grant list
DP1 OD003644 / OD / NIH HHS / United States
R01 HG004037 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States
U54 CA132383 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
U54CA121852 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
DPI OD003644 / OD / NIH HHS / United States
U54 CA121852 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
Howard Hughes Medical Institute / United States
U54CA132383 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States