28th National Clinical Education Symposium Presentation Abstracts
20 APRIL 2026, MONDAY
10:15 - 11:30 OP-18 Construction and Analysis of a Pseudogene-centered RNA-RNA Interaction
Network for GUSBP2 in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Bioinformatics Approach
OP-18 Construction and Analysis of a Pseudogene-centered RNA-RNA Interaction Network for GUSBP2 in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Bioinformatics Approach
Manolya Ün1, Kerem Laçiner1
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1. Department of Psychiatry, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey
DOI: 10.5080/61upk.ozt437 Page 84
BACKGROUND AND AIM:A remarkable portion of the human genome is transcribed into non-coding RNAs including long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs) and pseudogene-products, which interact in cluster networks to regulate cellular processes, such as gene expression. Through DNA-chip analysis, we previously showed that the expression of GUSBP2, a member of the glucuronidase-beta pseudogene family, was significantly downregulated in generalized-anxiety disorder (GAD). Our aim in this study is to generate a GUSBP2-centered pseudogene-RNA interaction network to identify coregulated gene clusters and associated pathways, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of GAD.
METHODS (Ethics Committee Approval must be obtained and the number should be specified.):Candidates for the network were predicted using the ENCORI/starbase database. Alignment scores (AS) of the putative binding sites were calculated by the Smith-Waterman algorithm. Network maps of the pseudogene-mRNA interactome were constructed and cluster analysis was performed using the STRING database. Nestedhubs within the primary clusters were identified using the built-in DBSCAN algorithm. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was performed using the STRING database. Raw data was obtained from web-based open-source applications, therefore no ethics commitee approval was required.
RESULTS:A total of 13 lncRNAs and 36 mRNAs were identified as candidates for the GUSBP2-centered network. Among the lncRNAs, the top scoring pairings were of GUSBP1 (AS=23,5), GUSBP16 (AS=18), MALAT1 (AS=17,5) and miRNA-host gene MIR31HG (AS=16). Furthermore, the network map of the pseudogene-mRNA interactome covering all candidate mRNAs (moderate-to-high confidence cut-off value=0,67; p-value<10-16) was significantly enriched in functional GO terms such as sensory_perception_of_chemical_stimulus (FDR=1,02x10-8) and olfactory_receptor_activity (FDR=4,55x10-7). Cluster analysis predicted the presence of a nested-hub of 8 novel genes within the olfactory_transduction cluster, which was significantly enriched in the category of morphine_addiction (FDR=1,53x10-6).
CONCLUSIONS:Our findings suggest that molecular pathways contributing to the pathogenesis GAD and opioid abuse might be interlinked via GUSBP2-co-regulated gene-hubs. This is the first computational study in literature to describe a novel GUSBP2-mediated network bridging the two aforementioned psychiatric disorders. Keywords: GAD, bioinformatics, lncRNA, RNA-RNA interaction network, enrichment, cluster analysis