We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Random graphs

The complex organization of connectivity in the human brain is incompletely understood. Recently, topological measures based on graph theory have provided a new approach to quantify large-scale cortical networks. These methods have been applied to anatomical connectivity data on nonhuman species, and cortical networks have been shown to have small-world topology, associated with high local and global efficiency of information transfer. Anatomical networks derived from cortical thickness measurements have shown the same organizational properties of the healthy human brain, consistent with similar results reported in functional networks derived from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalographic data. Here we show, using anatomical networks derived from analysis of inter-regional covariation of gray matter volume in MRI data on 259 healthy volunteers, that classical divisions of cortex (multimodal, unimodal, and transmodal) have some distinct topological attributes. Although all cortical divisions shared nonrandom properties of small-worldness and efficient wiring (short mean Euclidean distance between connected regions), the multimodal network had a hierarchical organization, dominated by frontal hubs with low clustering, whereas the transmodal network was assortative. Moreover, in a sample of 203 people with schizophrenia, multimodal network organization was abnormal, as indicated by reduced hierarchy, the loss of frontal and the emergence of nonfrontal hubs, and increased connection distance. We propose that the topological differences between divisions of normal cortex may represent the outcome of different growth processes for multimodal and transmodal networks and that neurodevelopmental abnormalities in schizophrenia specifically impact multimodal cortical organization.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/28/37/9239.full.pdf

Hierarchical Organization of Human Cortical Networks in Health and Schizophrenia

骨髄異形成症候群のgenome-wide analysis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ∼23 nt RNAs that play important gene-regulatory roles in animals and plants by pairing to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct their posttranscriptional repression. This review outlines the current understanding of miRNA target recognition in animals and discusses the widespread impact of miRNAs on both the expression and evolution of protein-coding genes.

MicroRNAs: Target Recognition and Regulatory Functions

Cooperativity in Noncovalent Interactions.

The information regarding the structure of a single protein is encoded in the network of interacting amino acids considered as nodes. If any two atoms from two different amino acids (nodes) are within higher cut-off distance of London-van der Waals forces, the amino acids are considered to be linked or connected. Several atoms of any amino acids in a protein may be within the above prescribed distance of several atoms of another amino acid resulting in possible multiple links between them. These multiple links are the basis of the weight of the connectivity in a protein network. Each protein has been considered as a weighted and an unweighted network of amino acids. A total of forty nine protein structures that covers the three branches of life on earth has been analyzed and several network properties have been studied. The probability degree and strength distributions of network connectivity have been obtained. It has been observed that the average strength of amino acid node depends on its degree. The results show that the average clustering coefficient of weighted network is less than that of unweighted network. It implies that the topological clustering is generated by edges with low weights. The power-law behavior of clustering coefficients of weighted and unweighted networks as a function of degree indicates that they have signatures of hierarchy. It has also been observed that the network is of assortative type.

Weighted and unweighted network of amino acids within protein

The information regarding the structure of a single protein is encoded in the network of interacting amino acids which are mainly of two types—hydrophobic and hydrophilic. In the present study, we have analysed hydrophobic and hydrophilic amino acids network separately. The results show that both the networks have the `small world' property. The degree distributions for long-range interactions of both the networks have the form of power law with exponential cut-off. Hydrophobic networks have larger average degrees of nodes than hydrophilic networks.

Amino acid network within protein

DNA was isolated from 14 cultivars of Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek and subjected to RAPD analysis using 14 random decamer primers. These cultivars revealed polymorphism with respect to RAPD markers and were subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis. A dendrogram was prepared based on these data. Analysis of banding patterns confirmed that two strongly aromatic cultivars IC1, IC4, were closely linked. But another aromatic cultivar, B1, formed a separate cluster. The high yielding cultivars were closely related to B1. The phylogenetic tree constructed by the neighbour joining method showed that RAPD results were correlated with morphological characters like plant height, leaf and seed size, seed colour, etc.

Estimation of Genetic Variability of Vigna radiata Cultivars by RAPD Analysis

Are there any generalized molecular principles of thermal adaptation? Here, integrating the concepts of structural bioinformatics, sequence analysis, and classical knot theory, we develop a robust computational framework that seeks for mechanisms of thermal adaptation by comparing orthologous mesophilic-thermophilic and mesophilic-hyperthermophilic proteins of remarkable structural and topological similarities, and still leads us to context-independent results. A comprehensive analysis of 4741 high-resolution, non-redundant X-ray crystallographic structures collected from 11 hyperthermophilic, 32 thermophilic and 53 mesophilic prokaryotes unravels at least five "nearly universal" signatures of thermal adaptation, irrespective of the enormous sequence, structure, and functional diversity of the proteins compared. A careful investigation further extracts a set of amino acid changes that can potentially enhance protein thermal stability, and remarkably, these mutations are overrepresented in protein crystallization experiments, in disorder-to-order transitions and in engineered thermostable variants of existing mesophilic proteins. These results could be helpful to find a precise, global picture of thermal adaptation.

Finding the generalized molecular principles of protein thermal stability

Chlorophyll is one of the most important pigments present in green plants and rice is one of the major food crops consumed worldwide. We curated the existing genome scale metabolic model (GSM) of rice leaf by incorporating new compartment, reactions and transporters. We used this modified GSM to elucidate how the chlorophyll is synthesized in a leaf through a series of bio-chemical reactions spanned over different organelles using inorganic macronutrients and light energy. We predicted the essential reactions and the associated genes of chlorophyll synthesis and validated against the existing experimental evidences. Further, ammonia is known to be the preferred source of nitrogen in rice paddy fields. The ammonia entering into the plant is assimilated in the root and leaf. The focus of the present work is centered on rice leaf metabolism. We studied the relative importance of ammonia transporters through the chloroplast and the cytosol and their interlink with other intracellular transporters. Ammonia assimilation in the leaves takes place by the enzyme glutamine synthetase (GS) which is present in the cytosol (GS1) and chloroplast (GS2). Our results provided possible explanation why GS2 mutants show normal growth under minimum photorespiration and appear chlorotic when exposed to air.

/pdf/revisiting-the-chlorophyll-biosynthesis-pathway-using-genome-znf29yscej.pdf

Sudip Kundu

Papers

Weighted and unweighted network of amino acids within protein

Amino acid network within protein

Estimation of Genetic Variability of Vigna radiata Cultivars by RAPD Analysis

Finding the generalized molecular principles of protein thermal stability

Revisiting the chlorophyll biosynthesis pathway using genome scale metabolic model of Oryza sativa japonica.