Broad network-based predictability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene loss-of-function phenotypes

Kriston L McGary¹ , Insuk Lee¹ and Edward M Marcotte¹^,2

¹Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

²Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

author email corresponding author email

Genome Biology 2007, 8:R258doi:10.1186/gb-2007-8-12-r258


Published:	5 December 2007

Subject areas: Bioinformatics, Genome studies, Model organisms

Abstract

We demonstrate that loss-of-function yeast phenotypes are predictable by guilt-by-association in functional gene networks. Testing 1,102 loss-of-function phenotypes from genome-wide assays of yeast reveals predictability of diverse phenotypes, spanning cellular morphology, growth, metabolism, and quantitative cell shape features. We apply the method to extend a genome-wide screen by predicting, then verifying, genes whose disruption elongates yeast cells, and to predict human disease genes. To facilitate network-guided screens, a web server is available http://www.yeastnet.org webcite.