Analyzing the relationships between tissue-specific gene expression and subgraphs in gene regulatory networks

Abstract

Although cells in different tissues of the human body share the same genome, their functions are different from each other because of tissue-specific gene expression. In this study, we investigated the cause of the differences in gene expression patterns in each tissue. We used gene regulatory networks (GRNs) constructed from genomic experimental data that are available in recent years. We investigated the frequency of the occurrence of subgraphs consisting of three vertices (SG3s) in GRNs and found that some SG3s may contribute to the emergence of tissue-specific genes.