title: Redefining plant systems biology: from cell to ecosystem.
abstract: 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 (IQ(BiO)), might enhance our abilities to generate new desired plant phenotypes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. joost.keurentjes@wur.nl
authors.forename: Joost J B
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Keurentjes
authors.forename: Gerco C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Angenent
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dicke
authors.forename: Vítor A P Martins
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.forename: Jaap
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Molenaar
authors.forename: Wim H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: van der Putten
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: de Ruiter
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Struik
authors.forename: Bart P H J
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Thomma
mesh_terms: D001947:Breeding; D017753:Ecosystem; D059828:Plant Cells; D010944:Plants; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods*