Ant colony optimisation of decision tree and contingency table models for the discovery of gene-gene interactions

IET Syst Biol. 2015 Dec;9(6):218-25. doi: 10.1049/iet-syb.2015.0017.

Abstract

In this study, ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm is used to derive near-optimal interactions between a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). This approach is used to discover small numbers of SNPs that are combined into a decision tree or contingency table model. The ACO algorithm is shown to be very robust as it is proven to be able to find results that are discriminatory from a statistical perspective with logical interactions, decision tree and contingency table models for various numbers of SNPs considered in the interaction. A large number of the SNPs discovered here have been already identified in large genome-wide association studies to be related to type II diabetes in the literature, lending additional confidence to the results.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Animals
  • Ants
  • Decision Support Techniques
  • Epistasis, Genetic*
  • Humans
  • Models, Genetic*
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*