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 COin 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.