Abstrait

Genome-wide Screening of Cell Wall-related Modules in Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on Large-scale Co-Expression Analysis

Huaidong Wang, Bingqiang Liu, Zhuoyuan Xin, Zipeng Duan, Xiaoyu Sun, Yan Lin, Zhifeng Yang, Guoqing Wang*, Fan Li*

The cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis plays an important role in pathogenesis. It is impossible to analyze the cell wall-associated genes one by one since lacking of functional annotation. Here, we performed clustering analysis of gene microarray expression data and acquired 33 co-expression modules by the construction of three nodes co-regulated networks. A total of 555 cell wall-related genes were predicted in the modules using a multi-factor logistic regression model and motif predicting analysis. The module analysis identified 15 genes without annotation that were also associated with the cell wall. Twentyfive modules contained significant motifs, and genes in 10 of these 25 modules shared a common motif. The methodological approach utilized herein may be applied to identification and description of other function-associated genes in the M. tuberculosis genome. The results of this study might improve understanding of the M. tuberculosis cell wall, and in finding new targets for anti-TB drugs.