From Protein Variations to Biological Processes and Pathways with NET-GE

Gene enrichment analysis is a common technique for highlighting molecular pathways and biological processes of a phenotype. Such technique has recently evolved exploiting the information contained in biological networks. We developed NET-GE, a web server for network-based gene enrichment analyses. NET-GE defines functional associations between a list of genes/proteins and biological processes or pathways by identifying function-specific modules in a molecular interaction network. The peculiarity of NET-GE is the possibility to enrich terms not detectable by standard enrichment procedure. Here, we highlight with two specific applications the performances of NET-GE by computing which functional phenotypes can be associated with two different sets of genes related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and to an Obsessive-compulsive disorder, respectively.