Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras have developed a computational approach to understand the interplay between genes responsible for communication between organs in the body.
Published Date – Tuesday 25th July 23rd at 2:23pm
Chennai: Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed a computational approach to understand the interplay between genes responsible for inter-organ communication in the body.
Communication between cells of different tissues and organs is essential for multicellular life.
The molecular basis of this communication has long been studied, but genome-wide screens of genes and other biomolecules that mediate signaling between tissues have been lacking.
To systematically identify interstitial mediators, the team developed the MultiCens, or multilayer/multi-tissue network centrality measure, which enables the exchange of information between body organs and tissues and is essential for the proper functioning and survival of all living organisms.
A paper published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Computational Biology describes this inter-organ communication network (ICN), which also allows organisms to adapt to environmental changes, assess their energy reserves, and maintain overall health.
“Most research at the ICN mainly involves experiments with model organisms such as fruit flies, which may not be directly applicable to humans and other non-model organisms,” said Prof. B. Ravindran, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras.
“Furthermore, the experimental techniques used can be very time-consuming due to the large number of interactions between biomolecules in different tissues. Therefore, our current knowledge of the ICN is incomplete,” he adds.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the ICN’s role in maintaining health and coping with disease, the team used genomic information from various tissues to create MultiCens, an innovative computational approach.
“The importance of our MultiCens approach lies in its ability to identify key genes in the ICN under various conditions of health or disease. At the heart of MultiCens are network science algorithms that quantify the importance of genes within and across multiple tissues in a hierarchical manner,” said Prof. Manikandan Narayanan, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras.
The researchers used MultiCens to predict genes closely related to hormones that are critical for many bodily functions, and also revealed changes in genetic interactions within and between different brain regions affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Additionally, it can be extended to understand cancer metastasis, as cancer originates in a single organ and spreads to other organs in due course.
MultiCens could also be applied to other health and disease genomic settings. The researchers say that the MultiCens source code is publicly available, a web interface to the method and experimental validation of its predictions are ongoing work to further a comprehensive understanding of the ICN and its role in overall health and well-being.
