Quantitative inference of gene function from diverse large-scale datasets
2008

Evaluating Mouse Gene Function Predictions

Sample size: 21603 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Peña-Castillo Lourdes, Tasan Murat, Myers Chad L, Lee Hyunju, Joshi Trupti, Zhang Chao, Guan Yuanfang, Leone Michele, Pagnani Andrea, Kim Wan Kyu, Krumpelman Chase, Tian Weidong, Obozinski Guillaume, Qi Yanjun, Mostafavi Sara, Lin Guan Ning, Berriz Gabriel F, Gibbons Francis D, Lanckriet Gert, Qiu Jian, Grant Charles, Barutcuoglu Zafer, Hill David P, Warde-Farley David, Grouios Chris, Ray Debajyoti, Blake Judith A, Deng Minghua, Jordan Michael I, Noble William S, Morris Quaid, Klein-Seetharaman Judith, Bar-Joseph Ziv, Chen Ting, Sun Fengzhu, Troyanskaya Olga G, Marcotte Edward M, Xu Dong, Hughes Timothy R, Roth Frederick P

Primary Institution: University of Toronto

Hypothesis

Can computational predictions of gene function improve our understanding of mouse genes?

Conclusion

The study shows that current data allows for accurate predictions of gene functions in mice, including many previously uncharacterized genes.

Supporting Evidence

  • 76% of mouse genes had inferred functions.
  • 5,000 previously uncharacterized genes were predicted to have functions.
  • 41% average precision at a recall rate of 20%.
  • 26% of GO terms achieved a precision better than 90%.

Takeaway

Scientists used computers to guess what mouse genes do, and they found out a lot of new things about them!

Methodology

Nine bioinformatics teams used a standardized dataset of mouse genomic data to train classifiers and predict gene functions based on Gene Ontology terms.

Potential Biases

Potential overfitting due to the limited number of training examples for some GO terms.

Limitations

The predictions may not be accurate for all genes, especially those with limited data.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.05

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/gb-2008-9-s1-s2

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