Rice Stress-Response Gene-Network: An Example of Community Curation in WikiPathways for Plants

In recent decades, genome-scale expression studies have allowed identification of genes and gene-networks associated with both biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants. However, an interactive, curated model of a plant's stress-response network is lacking. We created rice stress-response interactome consisting of 500 rice (Oryza sativa) genes using WikiPathways based on published studies and analysis of transcriptomic data sets available in the public domain. We identified set of up- and down-regulated network hubs that are shared between rice biotic and abiotic stress-response subnetworks. The rice stress-response networks described herein, is freely available on the plants Wikipathways portal (http://www.wikipathways.org/index.php/Portal:Plants). Researchers can further curate components of this gene network, links to external resources, and add relevant information as new knowledge becomes available. Furthermore, users can edit/visualize this network model online and conduct analysis of their expression data using the expression viewer and statistical analysis features built into the desktop version of the PathVisio. We invite researchers to register free of charge at Wikipathways and help curate important plant pathways.