Efficient computation of minimal perturbation sets in gene regulatory networks.

In the last few decades, technological and experimental advancements have enabled a more precise understanding of the mode of action of drugs with respect to human cell signaling pathways and have positively influenced the design of new drug compounds. However, as the design of compounds has become increasingly target-specific, the overall effects of a drug on adjacent cellular signaling pathways remain difficult to predict because of the complexity of the interactions involved. Off-target effects of drugs are known to influence their efficacy and safety. Similarly, drugs which are more target-specific also suffer from lack of efficacy because their scope might be too limited in the context of cellular signaling. Even in situations where the signaling pathways targeted by a drug are known, the presence of point mutations in some of the components of the pathways can render a therapy ineffective in a considerable target subpopulation. Some of these issues can be addressed by predicting Minimal Intervention Sets (MIS) of elements of the signaling pathways that when perturbed give rise to a pre-defined cellular phenotype. These minimal gene perturbation sets can then be further used to screen a library of drug compounds in order to discover effective drug therapies. This manuscript describes algorithms that can be used to discover MIS in a gene regulatory network that can lead to a defined cellular phenotype. Algorithms are implemented in our Boolean modeling toolbox, GenYsis. The software binaries of GenYsis are available for download from http://www.vital-it.ch/software/genYsis/.

Absence of nucleolar disruption after impairment of 40S ribosome biogenesis reveals an rpL11-translation-dependent mechanism of p53 induction.

Impaired ribosome biogenesis is attributed to nucleolar disruption and diffusion of a subset of 60S ribosomal proteins, particularly ribosomal protein (rp)L11, into the nucleoplasm, where they inhibit MDM2, leading to p53 induction and cell-cycle arrest. Previously, we demonstrated that deletion of the 40S rpS6 gene in mouse liver prevents hepatocytes from re-entering the cell cycle after partial hepatectomy. Here, we show that this response leads to an increase in p53, which is recapitulated in culture by rpS6-siRNA treatment and rescued by the simultaneous depletion of p53. However, disruption of biogenesis of 40S ribosomes had no effect on nucleolar integrity, although p53 induction was mediated by rpL11, leading to the finding that the cell selectively upregulates the translation of mRNAs with a polypyrimidine tract at their 5'-transcriptional start site (5'-TOP mRNAs), including that encoding rpL11, on impairment of 40S ribosome biogenesis. Increased 5'-TOP mRNA translation takes place despite continued 60S ribosome biogenesis and a decrease in global translation. Thus, in proliferative human disorders involving hypomorphic mutations in 40S ribosomal proteins, specific targeting of rpL11 upregulation would spare other stress pathways that mediate the potential benefits of p53 induction.