Co-expression network analysis identifies specific hub genes in association with developmental neuronal remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

As an evolutionarily conserved mechanism, developmental neuronal remodeling is needed for the proper wiring of the nervous system and is critical for understanding the neurodevelopment mechanisms. Previous studies have shown that during metamorphosis lots of Drosophila melanogaster mushroom body neurons experience stereotypic remodeling. However, the related regulators and downstream executors of pathways are yet unclear, especially studies of transcriptional gene co-expression analysis of nervous systems remain insufficient. In this study, we develop a weighted gene co-expression network (WGCNA) to classify gene modules associated with neuronal remodeling. Moreover, functional and pathway enrichment analysis with protein-protein network construction is applied to detect high informative hub genes in the targeted gene module. Thus, we select a total of five hub genes that play critical roles in neuronal remodeling and identify them with functional enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction network. Overall, this study provides insight into the underlying molecular mechanism of developmental neuronal remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster.