Plant gene co-expression defines the biosynthetic pathway of neuroactive alkaloids

Transcriptomes comprise gene co-expression clusters or modules, showcasing distinct patterns of coordinated expression among groups of genes across independent biological samples (Serin et al., 2016). The "guilt-by-association" hypothesis suggests the functional importance of these clusters; for example, co-expressed genes associated with metabolism typically contain genes encoding several enzymes associated with the same pathways. Commonly, these gene clusters encode a variety of proteins including arrays of enzymes responsible for the core biosynthetic pathway and the modification of the core structure as well as regulatory proteins like transcription factors or related transporters.