HCNet: a database of heart and calcium functional network

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Biology
• Systems Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• The Heart and Calcium functional Network (HCNet) database aggregates functional gene modules.
• These modules are derived from a comprehensive compendium of microarray data.
• HCNet is specifically designed for cardiac calcium signaling research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide experimentalists with pre-calculated gene clusters and correlation networks relevant to cardiac function.
• To facilitate the exploration of functional gene modules in the heart.
• To support research into cardiac calcium signaling pathways.

Main Methods:

• Bi-clustering analysis was performed on 381 microarray datasets.
• Functional gene modules were identified from 786 target genes.
• Gene expression profiles, network diagrams, and overrepresented gene ontology categories were generated.

Main Results:

• The current release of HCNet contains 57 functional modules.
• Information is categorized into heart-specific genes and heart-specific genes with calcium toolkit genes.
• Detailed expression profiles, network visualizations, and pathway analyses are available.

Conclusions:

• HCNet serves as a valuable resource for cardiac calcium signaling research.
• The database provides insights into functional gene modules and their networks in the heart.
• It aids in inferring biological implications through gene ontology and transcription factor analysis.