From the ArcaMax Publishing, Science & Technology Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/technology/s-572963-505489
PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've created a new
algorithm that reveals how genetic networks in the fruit fly,
Drosophila melanogaster, evolve.
Scientists have known the relationships between fruit fly genes change
over time, but existing experimental approaches can't capture the
details of those changes as they occur, the researchers said. The new
algorithm, developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists,
incorporates machine learning techniques that enable researchers to
figure out how the rewiring of the networks takes place as the insect
develops.
"Many problems in biological, social and engineering systems require
us to understand the interconnections between genes, people or other
entities, but directly observing the evolution of these
interconnections has often been impossible because of experimental or
computational limitations," said Associate Professor Eric Xing.
"Researchers typically could identify only a static 'average' network
within each system over a period of time, but had no way to capture
time-specific 'snapshots' of the actual rewiring network topology at
consecutive clock-ticks within the period.
"Our new method exploits the information sharing between the evolving
networks, and makes it possible to uncover interconnections that exist
for a short moment in time," Xing said. "These findings help us to
understand how these networks evolve over time, respond to stimuli and
sometimes become dysfunctional."
The research that included Amr Ahmed appeared online in last week's
early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.