A Post-Genomics Approach to Understanding E. coli Network Architecture

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Recent computational studies have suggested that E. coli metabolic and regulatory networks are small-world, which are often characterized by the presence of highly connected "hub" nodes that connect highly intra-connected sub-networks and, therefore, play an important role in shaping overall network behavior. This project describes a combined experimental and computational approach to discover genes whose over-expression has the strongest affect on cell behavior and to determine if these genes display biological network connectivity values that are characteristic of "small-world" network architectures. It is proposed to apply and further develop a new and innovative post-genomics methodology, parallel gene-trait mapping that enables new experiment-based investigations of the structure of E. coli biological networks at the whole-genome level. In parallel, it is proposed to perform computational studies that will create and parse E. coli regulatory and metabolic network-graphs to determine individual gene connectivity values. A primary outcome of this work will be the training of several young scientists and students at the interface of the biological and computational sciences. A second outcome will be the further development and application of a novel post-genomics methodology that can be used in a variety of contexts.