System biology techniques applied to the agriculture: transcriptomes and interactomes analyses

Abstract

This project intends to implement high-throughput Computational Biology techniques into the Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory at ESALQ/USP to transcriptome and interactome analysis. The first approach will attempt to deal with all the Bioinformatics involved in the transcriptome analyses, with data derived from microarray or cDNA fragments sequencing. Other will encompass graph analyses to identify protein-protein interactions clusters using AtPIN - Arabidopsis thaliana Protein Interactions Network - and the expression profile from the proposed transcriptomes. The aim of this work is to combine this two research lines to produce a solid dataset of information regarding the metabolic mechanisms of insects with agriculture interest. Especially, identify genes related to the insect capacity to dodge the plant herbivory chemical defense. Besides the academic relevance, the results should subsidize and increase the available data on expression, protein interactions, phylogeny and possible targets of study to explain the intricate mechanisms involved in the relationships between insects and plants as well as strengthen and advance the line of research in Bioinformatics Computational Biology and applied studies in Systems Biology at the host institution. (AU)