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Systems Biology

Section edited by Martin Lercher and Itai Yanai

Systems biology aims to build and apply models for biological systems too complex to be understood intuitively. The systems may comprise, for example, genes, their products, or metabolites, but the focus of the research should be the connections between the parts rather than the parts themselves. Suitable research includes work on systems at all scales, including, but not limited to, metabolic networks, signalling networks, and developmental pathways. Theoretical work should lead to testable predictions that can be applied to biological data. Evolutionary comparisons of systems are particularly welcome, as are analyses of systems-level properties and their relations to biological function.

  1. Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an adverse reaction caused by the intake of drugs of common use that produces liver damage. The impact of DILI is estimated to affect around 20 in 100,000 inhabitants worldw...

    Authors: Joaquim Aguirre-Plans, Janet Piñero, Terezinha Souza, Giulia Callegaro, Steven J. Kunnen, Ferran Sanz, Narcis Fernandez-Fuentes, Laura I. Furlong, Emre Guney and Baldo Oliva

    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:5

    Content type: Research

    Published on:

  2. The nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, is a saprophytic species that has been emerging as a standard model organism since the early 1960s. This species is useful in numerous fields, including developmental bi...

    Authors: Peng-Cheng Chen, Li Ruan, Jie Jin, Yu-Tian Tao, Xiao-Bao Ding, Hai-bo Zhang, Wen-Ping Guo, Qiao-lei Yang, Heng Yao and Xin Chen

    Citation: Biology Direct 2020 15:20

    Content type: Research

    Published on:

  5. Nutrition plays a crucial role in regulating reproductive hormones and follicular development in cattle. This is visible particularly during the time of negative energy balance at the onset of milk production ...

    Authors: Mohamed Omari, Alexander Lange, Julia Plöntzke and Susanna Röblitz

    Citation: Biology Direct 2020 15:2

    Content type: Research

    Published on:

  7. Mutations in the CLN3 gene lead to so far an incurable juvenile-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL) or Batten disease that starts at the age of 4–6 years with a progressive retinopathy leading to blindnes...

    Authors: Elena K. Shematorova, Dmitry G. Shpakovski, Anna D. Chernysheva and George V. Shpakovski

    Citation: Biology Direct 2018 13:19

    Content type: Hypothesis

    Published on:

  8. The transition between epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes (EMT) occurs in a variety of contexts. It is critical for mammalian development and it is also involved in tumor initiation and progression. Master ...

    Authors: Yoana Dimitrova, Andreas J. Gruber, Nitish Mittal, Souvik Ghosh, Beatrice Dimitriades, Daniel Mathow, William Aaron Grandy, Gerhard Christofori and Mihaela Zavolan

    Citation: Biology Direct 2017 12:8

    Content type: Research

    Published on:

  10. Gene covariation networks are commonly used to study biological processes. The inference of gene covariation networks from observational data can be challenging, especially considering the large number of play...

    Authors: Anatoly Yambartsev, Michael A. Perlin, Yevgeniy Kovchegov, Natalia Shulzhenko, Karina L. Mine, Xiaoxi Dong and Andrey Morgun

    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:52

    Content type: Research

    Published on:

  13. Mounting evidence indicates that our planet might experience runaway effects associated to rising temperatures and ecosystem overexploitation, leading to catastrophic shifts on short time scales. Remediation s...

    Authors: Ricard V. Solé, Raúl Montañez and Salva Duran-Nebreda

    Citation: Biology Direct 2015 10:37

    Content type: Hypothesis

    Published on:

  15. Our body harbors hundreds of microbial species and contains many more bacterial than human cells. These microbes are not passive riders but rather a vital component of the organism. The human microbiota affect...

    Authors: Petro Starokadomskyy

    Citation: Biology Direct 2014 10:25

    Content type: Comment

    Published on:

  18. The emergence of Next Generation Sequencing generates an incredible amount of sequence and great potential for new enzyme discovery. Despite this huge amount of data and the profusion of bioinformatic methods ...

    Authors: Maria Sorokina, Mark Stam, Claudine Médigue, Olivier Lespinet and David Vallenet

    Citation: Biology Direct 2014 9:10

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

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Biology Direct

ISSN: 1745-6150

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