An efficient method of exploring simulation models by assimilating literature and biological observational data

Genomic data assimilation using a higher moment filtering technique for restoration of gene regulatory networks

Background

As a result of recent advances in biotechnology, many findings related to intracellular systems have been published, e.g., transcription factor (TF) information. Although we can reproduce biological systems by incorporating such findings and describing their dynamics as mathematical equations, simulation results can be inconsistent with data from biological observations if there are inaccurate or unknown parts in the constructed system. For the completion of such systems, relationships among genes have been inferred through several computational approaches, which typically apply several abstractions, e.g., linearization, to handle the heavy computational cost in evaluating biological systems. However, since these approximations can generate false regulations, computational methods that can infer regulatory relationships based on less abstract models incorporating existing knowledge have been strongly required.

Results

We propose a new data assimilation algorithm that utilizes a simple nonlinear regulatory model and a state space representation to infer gene regulatory networks (GRNs) using time-course observation data. For the estimation of the hidden state variables and the parameter values, we developed a novel method termed a higher moment ensemble particle filter (HMEnPF) that can retain first four moments of the conditional distributions through filtering steps. Starting from the original model, e.g., derived from the literature, the proposed algorithm can sequentially evaluate candidate models, which are generated by partially changing the current best model, to find the model that can best predict the data. For the performance evaluation, we generated six synthetic data based on two real biological networks and evaluated effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by improving the networks inferred by previous methods. We then applied time-course observation data of rat skeletal muscle stimulated with corticosteroid. Since a corticosteroid pharmacogenomic pathway, its kinetic/dynamics and TF candidate genes have been partially elucidated, we incorporated these findings and inferred an extended pathway of rat pharmacogenomics.

Conclusions

Through the simulation study, the proposed algorithm outperformed previous methods and successfully improved the regulatory structure inferred by the previous methods. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm could extend a corticosteroid related pathway, which has been partially elucidated, with incorporating several information sources.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-015-0154-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An efficient data assimilation schema for restoration and extension of gene regulatory networks using time-course observation data

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) play a central role in sustaining complex biological systems in cells. Although we can construct GRNs by integrating biological interactions that have been recorded in literature, they can include suspicious data and a lack of information. Therefore, there has been an urgent need for an approach by which the validity of constructed networks can be evaluated; simulation-based methods have been applied in which biological observational data are assimilated. However, these methods apply nonlinear models that require high computational power to evaluate even one network consisting of only several genes. Therefore, to explore candidate networks whose simulation models can better predict the data by modifying and extending literature-based GRNs, an efficient and versatile method is urgently required. We applied a combinatorial transcription model, which can represent combinatorial regulatory effects of genes, as a biological simulation model, to reproduce the dynamic behavior of gene expressions within a state space model. Under the model, we applied the unscented Kalman filter to obtain the approximate posterior probability distribution of the hidden state to efficiently estimate parameter values maximizing prediction ability for observational data by the EM-algorithm. Utilizing the method, we propose a novel algorithm to modify GRNs reported in the literature so that their simulation models become consistent with observed data. The effectiveness of our approach was validated through comparison analysis to the previous methods using synthetic networks. Finally, as an application example, a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG)-based yeast cell cycle network was extended with additional candidate genes to better predict the real mRNA expressions data using the proposed method.