KOMODO: a web tool for detecting and visualizing biased distribution of groups of homologous genes in monophyletic taxa.
The enrichment analysis is a standard procedure to interpret 'omics' experiments that generate large gene lists as outputs, such as transcriptomics and protemics. However, despite the huge success of enrichment analysis in these classes of experiments, there is a surprising lack of application of this methodology to survey other categories of large-scale biological data available. Here, we report Kegg Orthology enrichMent-Online DetectiOn (KOMODO), a web tool to systematically investigate groups of monophyletic genomes in order to detect significantly enriched groups of homologous genes in one taxon when compared with another. The results are displayed in their proper biochemical roles in a visual, explorative way, allowing users to easily formulate and investigate biological hypotheses regarding the taxonomical distribution of genomic elements. We validated KOMODO by analyzing portions of central carbon metabolism in two taxa extensively studied regarding their carbon metabolism profile (Enterobacteriaceae family and Lactobacillales order). Most enzymatic activities significantly biased were related to known key metabolic traits in these taxa, such as the distinct fates of pyruvate (the known tendency of lactate production in Lactobacillales and its complete oxidation in Enterobacteriaceae), demonstrating that KOMODO could detect biologically meaningful differences in the frequencies of shared genomic elements among taxa. KOMODO is freely available at http://komodotool.org.
Laboratório Multiusuário de Bioinformática, Embrapa Informática Agropecuária, Campinas, São Paulo 13083 886, Brazil. franciscolobo@gmail.com
Francisco P
FP
Lobo
Maíra R
MR
Rodrigues
Gisele O L
GO
Rodrigues
Heron O
HO
Hilário
Raoni A
RA
Souza
Andreas
A
Tauch
Anderson
A
Miyoshi
Glaura C
GC
Franco
Vasco
V
Azevedo
Glória R
GR
Franco
D002952:Citric Acid Cycle / Q000235:genetics; D003196:Computer Graphics; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006019:Glycolysis / Q000235:genetics; D020407:Internet; D056546:Lactobacillales / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012984:Software