GeneSNAKE: a Python package for benchmarking and simulation of gene regulatory networks and expression data.

• Understanding how genes interact with and regulate each other is a key challenge in systems biology. One of the primary methods to study this is through gene regulatory networks (GRNs). The field of GRN inference however faces many challenges, such as the complexity of gene regulation and high noise levels, which necessitates effective tools for evaluating inference methods. For this purpose, data that corresponds to a known GRN, from various conditions and experimental setups is necessary, which is only possible to attain via simulation.  Existing tools for simulating data for GRN inference have limitations either in the way networks are constructed or data is produced, and are often not flexible for adjusting the algorithm or parameters. To overcome these issues we present GeneSNAKE, a Python package designed to allow users to generate biologically realistic GRNs, and from a GRN simulate expression data for benchmarking purposes. GeneSNAKE allows the user to control a wide range of network and data properties. GeneSNAKE improves on previous work in the field by adding a perturbation model that allows for a greater range of perturbation schemes along with the ability to control noise and modify the perturbation strength. For benchmarking, GeneSNAKE offers a number of functions both for comparing a true GRN to an inferred GRN, and to study properties in data and GRN models. These functions can in addition be used to study properties of biological data to produce simulated data with more realistic properties.  GeneSNAKE is an open-source, comprehensive simulation and benchmarking package with powerful capabilities that are not combined in any other single package, and thanks to the Python implementation it is simple to extend and modify by a user.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Bioinformatik och systembiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Gene regulatory networks

simulation

benchmarking

method development

biokemi med inriktning mot bioinformatik

Biochemistry towards Bioinformatics

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