Abstract:Differences in gene expression underlie many of the phenotypic variations between related organisms, yet approaches to characterize such differences on a genome-wide scale are not well developed. Here, we introduce the "differential clustering algorithm" for revealing conserved and diverged co-expression patterns. Our approach is applied at different levels of organization, ranging from pair-wise correlations within specific groups of functionally linked genes, to higher-order correlations between such groups. Using the differential clustering algorithm, we systematically compared the transcription program of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans with that of the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Many of the identified differences are related to the differential requirement for mitochondrial function in the two yeasts. Distinct regulation patterns of cell cycle genes and of amino acid metabolic genes were also revealed and, in some cases, could be linked to the differential appearance of cis-regulatory elements in the gene promoter regions. Our study providesa comprehensive framework for comparative gene expression analysis and a rich source of hypotheses for uncharacterized open reading frames and putative cis-regulatory elements in C. albicans.

Status: Published Type: Journal article PubMed ID: 16470937

• To find other papers on a gene and topic, click on the colored ball in the appropriate box.
  displays other papers with information about that topic for that gene.
  displays other papers in CGD that are associated with that topic.
  The topic is addressed in these papers but does not describe a specific gene or chromosomal feature.


• To go to the Locus page for a gene, click on the gene name.