Getting to the Edge: Protein dynamical networks as a new frontier in plant-microbe interactions

• Main Authors: Cassandra C Garbutt, Purushotham V Bangalore, Pegah eKannar, Shahid eMukhtar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-06-01
• Series: Frontiers in Plant Science
• Subjects: Systems Biology; network dynamics; protein-protein interactions; regulatory network; Functional modules; Plant-pathogens interactions
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2014.00312/full

A systems perspective on diverse phenotypes, mechanisms of infection, and responses to environmental stresses can lead to considerable advances in agriculture and medicine. A significant promise of systems biology within plants is the development of disease-resistant crop varieties, which would maximize yield output for food, clothing, building materials and biofuel production. A systems or -omics perspective frames the next frontier in the search for enhanced knowledge of plant network biology. The functional understanding of network structure and dynamics s is vital to expanding our knowledge of how the intercellular communication processes are executed. . This review article will systematically discuss various levels of organization of systems biology beginning with the building blocks termed –omes and ending with complex transcriptional and protein-protein interaction networks. We will also highlight the prevailing computational modeling approaches of biological regulatory network dynamics. The latest developments in the -omics approach will be reviewed and discussed to underline and highlight novel technologies and research directions in plant network biology.