Speaker
Prof.
Erik Sonnhammer
(Stockholm University)
Description
Interactomes computationally predicted via data integration
are becoming an increasingly popular tool and context for
biological research. However merging disparate data sources
and presenting relevant parts of a global network is not
trivial. FunCoup, an optimised Bayesian framework and a web
resource, was developed to resolve these issues. FunCoup
provides a number of uniqe features. (1) It annotates
network edges with confidence scores in support of different
kinds of interactions – physical interaction, protein
complex member, metabolic or signalling link. (2) It
supports selective usage of eight different types of
evidence. (3) It provides on-line 'comparative
interactomics' where a subnetwork in one species is aligned
to an orthologous subnetwork in another species. FunCoup
predictions were validated on independent cancer mutation
data. The networks, which are the largest interactome
reconstructions to date for nine eukaryotes, are freely
available for download and query at
http://FunCoup.sbc.su.se. In a recently published study,
FunCoup was used to analyse cancer gene networks and to
search for genes that are linked to known cancer genes in
the network. This resulted in 1891 new candidates for cancer
genes in total, 185 of which are linked to more than 10
known cancer genes. These genes are thus predicted to be
central in processes associated with cancer, and an example
of how network analysis can generate hypotheses relevant to
medicine.