Multiciliogenesis is a complex process that allows the generation of hundreds of motile cilia on the surface of specialized cells, to create fluid flow across epithelial surfaces. Dysfunction of human multiciliated cells is associated with diseases of the brain, airway and reproductive tracts. Despite recent efforts to characterize the transcriptional events responsible for the differentiation of multiciliated cells, a lot of actors remain to be identified. In this work, we capitalize on the ever-growing quantity of high-throughput data to search for new candidate genes involved in multiciliation. After performing a large-scale screening using 10 transcriptomics datasets dedicated to multiciliation, we established a specific evolutionary signature involving Otomorpha fish to use as a criterion to select the most likely targets. Combining both approaches highlighted a list of 114 potential multiciliated candidates. We characterized these genes first by generating protein interaction networks, which showed various clusters of ciliated and multiciliated genes, and then by computing phylogenetic profiles. In the end, we selected 11 poorly characterized genes that seem like particularly promising multiciliated candidates. By combining functional and comparative genomics methods, we developed a novel type of approach to study biological processes and identify new promising candidates linked to that process.

中文翻译：

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结合转录和进化特征来识别新的增殖基因的新方法

多纤毛发生是一个复杂的过程，它允许在特化细胞表面产生数百个活动纤毛，以产生穿过上皮表面的流体流动。人类多纤毛细胞的功能障碍与大脑、气道和生殖道疾病有关。尽管最近努力表征负责多纤毛细胞分化的转录事件，但仍有许多参与者有待确定。在这项工作中，我们利用不断增长的高通量数据来寻找参与多纤化的新候选基因。在使用 10 个专门用于多重化的转录组学数据集进行大规模筛选后，我们建立了一个涉及 Otomorpha 鱼的特定进化特征，用作选择最可能目标的标准。结合这两种方法突出显示了 114 个潜在的多学科候选人列表。我们首先通过生成蛋白质相互作用网络来表征这些基因，该网络显示各种纤毛和多纤毛基因簇，然后通过计算系统发育图谱。最后，我们选择了 11 个特征不佳的基因，这些基因似乎特别有前途的多分支候选基因。通过结合功能和比较基因组学方法，我们开发了一种新型方法来研究生物过程并确定与该过程相关的新的有希望的候选者。我们选择了 11 个特征不佳的基因，这些基因似乎特别有前途的多分支候选者。通过结合功能和比较基因组学方法，我们开发了一种新型方法来研究生物过程并确定与该过程相关的新的有希望的候选者。我们选择了 11 个特征不佳的基因，这些基因似乎特别有前途的多分支候选者。通过结合功能和比较基因组学方法，我们开发了一种新型方法来研究生物过程并确定与该过程相关的新的有希望的候选者。