Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis in Rhodobacter capsulatus and Application to Comparative Expression Analysis of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Transcriptomic data has been previously used to determine expression patterns in various R. capsulatus strains using custom made Affymetrix microarrays. Additional expression analyses have since been carried out to obtain preliminary data on certain wild type and mutant strains that have not been reported on. We used all current microarray expression data available and constructed an R. capsulatus gene co-expression network and performed functional analysis of identified gene modules. RNA was harvested from various wild type and mutant R. capsulatus strains grown under photoheterotrophic conditions to different growth phases. The samples were hybridized to custom made R. capsulatus Affymetrix microarrays according to manufacturers recommendations. The raw data was RMA normalized and log transformed.