Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
for Systems Biology
Andrew M. Thomson, Paul Robson, Huck Hui Ng,
Hasan H. Otu, & Bing Lim
The current trend of biological and medical research in generating mas-
sive data sets in diverse fields using multiple and varying platforms
necessitates a new perspective in the way we anticipate the harvesting
of new knowledge from the vast amount of accumulating data. Systems
biology may be thought of as a discipline that seeks to achieve break-
through into new understandings of biology from the cell to the organism
by a computational integration of diverse large biological data sets to
capture information not possible through analysis of a single or a few
parameters such as transcript, protein and activity states, protein-protein
interaction, protein-nucleic acid interaction, extracellular signals, and
cellular transformation [1]. The goals of systems biology range from
the simplest ability to predict specific functional responses, or identify
networks for lineage specification at the cellular level, to grand revela-
tions of physiological and behavioral responses at the tissue and even
organism level [1].
Three advances have driven the movement toward the emergence of
this discipline: (1) the technologies to acquire complete annotated genome
sequences of species; (2) the development of technologies to capture
parallel gene expression of transcripts and proteins on a genomic scale;
and (3) the development of miniaturization and high-throughout analysis
of gene function.
The overarching guiding principle of systems biology is to integrate
findings from these technologies to seek connections of networks of
genes in cellular and biochemical responses, thereby anticipating the
discovery of new laws governing the function of networks [2-5]. Therefore,
the essential requirements for systems biology to achieve robustness
include: (1) digitalization of biological readouts; (2) computational
hardware to absorb and process large data sets; and (3) algorithms for
integration and interpretation of data.
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY AND EMBRYONIC STEM (ES) CELLS
The development of a single-celled fertilized egg to a complete organism of
a few trillion cells, with all its complex connections and communications,
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