3.4 Genes correlated with OA-induced behavioural change
We identified 230 and 25 hub genes for CO2 treatment in
the CNS and eyes, respectively, with 14 CO2 treatment
hub genes shared by both tissues. Of these CO2 treatment
hub genes in the CNS, eyes and both tissues, 169, 6 and 10 genes were
also identified as hub genes for one or more behavioural traits,
respectively, indicating these genes as potentially correlated with
CO2-induced behavioural changes (Figure 4). Of the 169
genes in the CNS potentially contributing to CO2-induced
behavioural changes, 87 were positively correlated with
CO2 treatment and all three activity traits and were
significantly enriched for 13 functional categories, including those
playing a role in the cell cycle, cell migration, and protein synthesis
and folding (Figure 5). Four of these functional categories were also
identified as significantly upregulated at elevated CO2 in the CNS by GSEA; ‘nuclear pore’, ‘motor activity’, ‘chromosome’ and
‘protein kinase binding’. The six transcripts in the eyes potentially
contributing to CO2-induced behavioural changes had a
match for two known genes; an acetylcholine receptor subunit
(chrna10) and a gene essential for maintaining retinal tissue
integrity (crb). The 10 transcripts in both tissues potentially
contributing to CO2-induced behavioural changes had a
match for eight known genes, again including chrna10, and genes
with putative roles in cell proliferation (gid-4, cdk10) and
protein processing (srp72, vhl, zranb1). See Table S7 – S10 for
all hub genes identified by WGCNA and their putative functions.