Integrative analysis of genome-wide RNA interference screens

• Published in: Science signaling Vol. 2; no. 70; p. pt4
• Main Authors: Berndt, Jason D, Biechele, Travis L, Moon, Randall T, Major, Michael B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 12.05.2009
• Subjects: Animals; beta Catenin - genetics; beta Catenin - metabolism; beta Catenin - physiology; Colorectal Neoplasms - genetics; Colorectal Neoplasms - metabolism; Colorectal Neoplasms - physiopathology; Genome, Human - genetics; Genotype; Humans; Models, Biological; Protein Binding; Proteome - metabolism; RNA Interference; RNA, Small Interfering - genetics; Signal Transduction; Wnt Proteins - genetics; Wnt Proteins - metabolism; Wnt Proteins - physiology
• ISSN: 1937-9145
• DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.270pt4

High-throughput genetic screens have exponentially increased the functional annotation of the genome over the past 10 years. Likewise, genome-scale efforts to map DNA methylation, chromatin state and occupancy, messenger RNA expression patterns, and disease-associated genetic polymorphisms, and proteome-wide efforts to map protein-protein interactions, have also created vast resources of data. An emerging trend involves combining multiple types of data, referred to as integrative screening. Examples include papers that report integrated data generated from large-scale RNA interference screens on the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway with either genotypic or proteomic data in colorectal cancer. These studies demonstrate the power of data integration to generate focused, validated data sets and to identify high-confidence candidate genes for follow-up experiments. We present the ongoing evolution and new strategies for the integrative screening approach with respect to understanding and treating human disease.