Systems-level transcriptional regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans metabolism
Nanda, Shivani ; Jacques, Marc-Antoine ; Wang, Wen ; Myers, Chad L ; Yilmaz, L Safak ; Walhout, Albertha J M
Citations
Student Authors
Faculty Advisor
Academic Program
UMass Chan Affiliations
Document Type
Publication Date
Subject Area
Collections
Files
Embargo Expiration Date
Link to Full Text
Abstract
Metabolism is controlled to ensure organismal development and homeostasis. Several mechanisms regulate metabolism, including allosteric control and transcriptional regulation of metabolic enzymes and transporters. So far, metabolism regulation has mostly been described for individual genes and pathways, and the extent of transcriptional regulation of the entire metabolic network remains largely unknown. Here, we find that three-quarters of all metabolic genes are transcriptionally regulated in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We find that many annotated metabolic pathways are coexpressed, and we use gene expression data and the iCEL1314 metabolic network model to define coregulated subpathways in an unbiased manner. Using a large gene expression compendium, we determine the conditions where subpathways exhibit strong coexpression. Finally, we develop “WormClust,” a web application that enables a gene-by-gene query of genes to view their association with metabolic (sub)-pathways. Overall, this study sheds light on the ubiquity of transcriptional regulation of metabolism and provides a blueprint for similar studies in other organisms, including humans.
Source
Nanda S, Jacques MA, Wang W, Myers CL, Yilmaz LS, Walhout AJ. Systems-level transcriptional regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans metabolism. Mol Syst Biol. 2023 May 9;19(5):e11443. doi: 10.15252/msb.202211443. Epub 2023 Mar 21. PMID: 36942755; PMCID: PMC10167481.