Ins and Outs of Systems Biology vis-à-vis Molecular Biology: Continuation or Clear Cut? |
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Authors: | Philippe De Backer Danny De Waele Linda Van Speybroeck |
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Institution: | (1) VIB, Department of Molecular Genetics/Department of Plant Systems Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, 9052 Ghent, Belgium;(2) Department of Philosophy and Moral Science, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;(3) FWO Flanders, Department of Philosophy and Moral Science, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;; |
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Abstract: | The comprehension of living organisms in all their complexity poses a major challenge to the biological sciences. Recently,
systems biology has been proposed as a new candidate in the development of such a comprehension. The main objective of this
paper is to address what systems biology is and how it is practised. To this end, the basic tools of a systems biological
approach are explored and illustrated. In addition, it is questioned whether systems biology ‘revolutionizes’ molecular biology
and ‘transcends’ its assumed reductionism. The strength of this claim appears to depend on how molecular and systems biology
are characterised and on how reductionism is interpreted. Doing credit to molecular biology and to methodological reductionism,
it is argued that the distinction between molecular and systems biology is gradual rather than sharp. As such, the classical
challenge in biology to manage, interpret and integrate biological data into functional wholes is further intensified by systems
biology’s use of modelling and bioinformatics, and by its scale enlargement. |
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