Genetic Information Relationship Network (GIRN): A Force-directed graphing tool for gene expression analysis

We present a web-based tool, Genetic Information Relationship Network (GIRN), for mapping genes to a global protein interaction network for humans, and for further annotating this map with gene ontology, pathway, disease, and user-generated terms. These annotations can be adjusted according to enrichment within a subset of genes. Additionally, drugs that interact with genes in the subset can be added to the graph. The maps are force-directed graphs in which highly connected nodes tend toward the center, and highly interconnected nodes tend toward each other. Icons of different shapes and colors are employed to indicate whether the node represents a protein, a gene, or one of the various types of annotation. Coordinated interaction of genes and functional inference can be identified by visual inspection. Each node in the graph is associated with a menu of links to external data sources. Collectively, these tools provide an efficient portal to gene-associated public data for any group of genes specified by the user. The site can be found at www.voxvill.org/relnet.