Publication of the month May 2011
Date: May 2011
Location: A CBSG publication in Trends in Plant Science April 2011
Redefining plant systems biology:
from cell to ecosystem
Molecular biologists typically restrict systems biology to
cellular levels. By contrast, ecologists define biological
systems as communities of interacting individuals at
different trophic levels that process energy, nutrient
and information flows. Modern plant breeding needs
to increase agricultural productivity while decreasing
the ecological footprint. This requires a holistic systems
biology approach that couples different aggregation
levels while considering the variables that affect these
biological systems from cell to community. The challenge
is to generate accurate experimental data that can
be used together with modelling concepts and techniques
that allow experimentally verifying in silico predictions.
The coupling of aggregation levels in plant
sciences, termed Integral Quantification of Biological
Organization (IQBiO), might enhance our abilities to generate
new desired plant phenotypes.
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