Genome-Wide Prediction of C. elegans Genetic Interactions

Abstract

To obtain a global view of functional interactions among genes in a metazoan genome, we computationally integrated interactome data, gene expression data, phenotype data, and functional annotation data from three model organisms—Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Drosophila melanogaster—and predicted genome-wide genetic interactions in C. elegans. The resulting genetic interaction network (consisting of 18,183 interactions) provides a framework for system-level understanding of gene functions. We experimentally tested the predicted interactions for two human disease-related genes and identified 14 new modifiers.