MicroRNA Co-regulation in Transcriptional Regulatory Network of Drosophila melanogaster

• Main Authors: Che-Chun Pai, 白哲濬
• Other Authors: Hsuan-Cheng Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/97869183243593020212

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 生物醫學資訊研究所 === 98 === The expression of gene information is mainly controlled by a number of specialized DNA-binding proteins known as transcription factors (TFs). In recent years, a new class of small molecules called microRNA (miRNA) has emerged as another important regulator on gene expression at post-transcriptional level. It is suggested that miRNAs may regulate a majority of protein-coding genes, responsible for a variety of biological processes. However, the cooperative regulation activity of TFs and miRNAs is still unclear. In this study, we first built up an integrative transcriptional regulatory network and protein interaction network involving TFs and microRNA genes of Drosophila melanogaster. In these integrative networks, we found many gene groups were extensively co-regulated by transcription factors and miRNAs in various combination; more importantly, these gene groups seemed to form a variety of functional modules, suggesting that each biological process may be specifically co-regulated by different collocation of TFs and miRNAs. In addition, topological analysis of these subnetworks revealed significant roles of miRNA cross regulation. We found that the co-regulated gene dyads preferentially interacted at the protein level, and they had higher probability to participate in common biological processes. Furthermore, TFs tended to have higher miRNA binding complexity, suggesting that cross-regulation might be a widespread mechanism among gene regulators. In conclusion, this work uncovers the co-regulation principles between miRNAs and TFs in cellular networks, and proposes that coordination may enhance the control of regulation patterns to influence biological functions in a great diversity.