title: An integrated approach for the systematic identification and characterization of heart-enriched genes with unknown functions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High throughput techniques have generated a huge set of biological data, which are deposited in various databases. Efficient exploitation of these databases is often hampered by a lack of appropriate tools, which allow easy and reliable identification of genes that miss functional characterization but are correlated with specific biological conditions (e.g. organotypic expression).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have developed a simple algorithm (DGSA = Database-dependent Gene Selection and Analysis) to identify genes with unknown functions involved in organ development concentrating on the heart. Using our approach, we identified a large number of yet uncharacterized genes, which are expressed during heart development. An initial functional characterization of genes by loss-of-function analysis employing morpholino injections into zebrafish embryos disclosed severe developmental defects indicating a decisive function of selected genes for developmental processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that DGSA is a versatile tool for database mining allowing efficient selection of uncharacterized genes for functional analysis.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Parkstrasse 1, Bad Nauheim, Germany. Shizuka.Uchida@mpi-bn.mpg.de
authors.forename: Shizuka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wiesnet
authors.forename: Benno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jungblut
authors.forename: Polina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zarjitskaya
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jenniches
authors.forename: Karsten Grosse
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Kreymborg
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Seeger
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Braun
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D003628:Database Management Systems; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics