Identification of hub genes and their SNP analysis in West Nile virus infection for designing therapeutic methodologies using RNA-Seq data

• Published in: Genes & genomics Vol. 37; no. 8; pp. 679 - 691
• Main Authors: Tayubi, I.A., King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Firoz, A., Thapar University, Patiala, India, Barukab, O.M., King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malik, A., Perdana University Centre for Bioinformatics, Serdang, Malaysia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Genetics Society of Korea 01-08-2015; 한국유전학회
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Human Genetics; INFECCION; INFECTION; Life Sciences; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Research Article; West Nile virus; West Nile virus,Interaction network,Hub genes,Community analysis,nsSNPs; 생물학; Infection; Hub genes; Community analysis; nsSNPs; West Nile virus; Interaction network
• ISSN: 1976-9571; 2092-9293
• DOI: 10.1007/s13258-015-0297-y

The West Nile virus (WNV) infections are generally asymptomatic and are considered as immediate concerns of biodefense due to the lack of any therapeutic remedies. In this work, we created an interaction network of 1159 differentially expressed genes to detect potential hub genes from WNV infected primary human macrophages. We go on to explore the genetic variations that can alter the expression and function of identified hub genes (HCLS1, SLC15A3, HCK, and LY96) using the PROVEAN Protein Batch tool and PolyPhen-2. Community analysis of the network revealed that these clusters were enriched in GO terms such as inflammatory response and regulation of proliferation. Analysis of hub genes can aid in determining their degree of conservation and may help us in understanding their functional roles in biological systems. The nsSNPs proposed in this work may be further targeted through experimental methods for improving treatment towards the infection of WNV.