GLITTER: a web-based application for gene link inspection through tissue-specific coexpression.
Accumulating evidence supports the polygenic nature of most complex diseases, suggesting the involvement of many susceptibility genes with small effect sizes. Although hundreds of genes may underlie the genetic architecture of complex diseases, those involved in a given disease are probably not randomly distributed, but likely to be functionally related. Protein-protein interaction networks have been used to evaluate the functional relatedness of susceptibility genes. However, these networks do not account for tissue specificity, are limited to protein-coding genes, and are typically biased by incomplete biological knowledge. Here, we present Gene Link Inspector Through Tissue-specific coExpRession (GLITTER), a web-based application for assessing the functional relatedness of susceptibility genes, either coding or noncoding, according to tissue-specific gene expression profiles. GLITTER can also shed light on the specific tissues in which susceptibility genes might exert their functions. We further demonstrate examples of how GLITTER can evaluate the functional relatedness of susceptibility genes underlying schizophrenia and breast cancer, and provide clues about etiology.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Xiangtao
X
Liu
Department of Bioinformatics, Admera Health LLC, South Plainfield, NJ, USA.
Pengfei
P
Yu
Department of Genetic, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
Chao
C
Cheng
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.|Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
James B
JB
Potash
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.|Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Shizhong
S
Han
D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics; D012984:Software