In the article “Investigation of RNA metabolism through large-scale genetic interaction profiling in yeast”, Decourty et al. describe the results of 154 genetic interaction screens performed with factors related with RNA metabolism. A major challenge of this project was data analysis once we generated about 700 000 quantitative growth measures for double mutant S. cerevisiae strains. We devised a pragmatic method, called RECAP, for extracting useful information from the screen results, based on literature-based gene association and genetic interaction profiles correlations. This method allowed to assign more than 1 000 yeast genes to cellular processes or complexes. Specific screens results identified a new functional link between the levels of inositol-polyphosphates and mRNA translation initiation. Finally, our results uncovered a major role for the Puf4 protein, member of the highly conserved Pumilio protein family, in regulating the expression of one of the two copies of genes for the ribosomal protein Rpl9 (illustrated).
This original article presents methodological advances for performing genetic screens and analyzing the obtained results, and provides a new resource for functional genomics in yeast. Our results can be explored through an interactive web interface: http://hub05.hosting.pasteur.fr/GIM_interactions/