Neuronal Apoptosis Revealed by Genomic Analysis I

Authors: Sebastiano Cavallaro

Publish Date: 2007/07/03

Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 115-126

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Abstract

Apoptosis is a key physiological response that occurs during development of the nervous system resulting in the death of nearly half of the embryonic neuronal population Aberrant apoptotic mechanisms are thought to contribute significantly to many neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease Although many experiments in the past have demonstrated the requirement of de novo gene expression during neuronal apoptosis the complete spectrum of genes involved in distinct temporal domains is mostly unknown To begin a comprehensive survey of the genebased molecular mechanisms that underlie neuronal apoptosis we have used the unprecedented experimental opportunities that genome sequences and the development of DNA microarray technology now provide to perform genomewide expression analysis in different paradigms of neuronal apoptosis In order to extract knowledge from gene expression information we have developed new informatics applications that enable clustering methods based on semantic characteristics such as gene ontologies This review will highlight the use of a genomic approach to identify the molecular program underlying neuronal apoptosis and illustrate how a semantic clustering method can be useful to extract more knowledge from microarray dataI gratefully acknowledge Alfia Corsino Maria Patrizia D’Angelo and Francesco Marino for their administrative and technical support This work was partly sponsored by grants of the Italian Ministry of Education University and Research DA 2266 DM 1105/255 to SC

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