The top 20 transcripts of the whole gene set were uploaded to GCAT (http://binf1.memphis.edu/gcat/index.py) for functional coherence analysis and gene network construction. These genes showed significant functional cohesion with a literature p value of < 8.10365e-17 (Fig 3). Multiple resources, including Chillibot, GeneCard, and Pubmed, were used to determine whether members of the Cd14 co-expression network had been previously associated with ethanol. Of the genes in the identified network, Tlr2, Il18, Cst3, Csf3, and Smpd1 were significantly correlated with ethanol-related phenotypes reported in the literature. Cd68, Il18, Ly86, Aif1, and Cd14all evinced significant changes in expression after ethanol treatment in our experiment. Overall, around 50% of the genes identified in the gene network have either experimental or literature support that they are related to both Cd14 and have differential expression after ethanol treatment.
