title: A complex systems approach to Arabidopsis root stem-cell niche developmental mechanisms: from molecules, to networks, to morphogenesis.
abstract: Recent reports have shown that the molecular mechanisms involved in root stem-cell niche development in Arabidopsis thaliana are complex and contain several feedback loops and non-additive interactions that need to be analyzed using computational and formal approaches. Complex systems cannot be understood in terms of the behavior of their isolated components, but they emerge as a consequence of largely non-linear interactions among their components. The study of complex systems has provided a useful approach for the exploration of system-level characteristics and behaviors of the molecular networks involved in cell differentiation and morphogenesis during development. We analyzed the complex molecular networks underlying stem-cell niche patterning in the A. thaliana root in terms of some of the key dynamic traits of complex systems: self-organization, modularity and structural properties. We use these analyses to integrate the available root stem-cell niche molecular mechanisms data and postulate novel hypotheses, missing components and interactions and explain apparent contradictions in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Genética Molecular, Desarrollo y Evolución de Plantas, Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad (C3), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, Mexico, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Azpeitia
authors.forename: Elena R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Buylla
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development*; D009024:Morphogenesis; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000166:cytology*; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000166:cytology*