GeneAgent: self-verification language agent for gene-set analysis using domain databases

Abstract

Gene-set analysis seeks to identify the biological mechanisms underlying groups of genes with shared functions. Large language models (LLMs) have recently shown promise in generating functional descriptions for input gene sets but may produce factually incorrect statements, commonly referred to as hallucinations in LLMs. Here we present GeneAgent, an LLM-based AI agent for gene-set analysis that reduces hallucinations by autonomously interacting with biological databases to verify its own output. Evaluation of 1,106 gene sets collected from different sources demonstrates that GeneAgent is consistently more accurate than GPT-4 by a significant margin. We further applied GeneAgent to seven novel gene sets derived from mouse B2905 melanoma cell lines. Expert review confirmed that GeneAgent produces more relevant and comprehensive functional descriptions than GPT-4, providing valuable insights into gene functions and expediting knowledge discovery.