Main description:

Biological signaling pathways dynamically interact with one another to form complex information networks intracellularly, intercellularly, and eventually at the level of the organism. Biology and medicine have conventionally focused on identification and characterization of functional elements in biological signaling pathways. Recently, research in this field has pursued a new approach, systems biology, to understand the dynamics, complexity, and physiological functions of the biological signaling networks. Instead of reductionistic analyses or large-scale studies of biomolecules piece by piece, systems biology emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary methods and analysis of the regulation and operation of information networks at the systems level. The contributors to this book are leading researchers in the rising field of systems biology. Readers will find not only the most recent advances in research, but also the latest information about interdisciplinary methods and related topics.

Feature:

Recent advances in research in systems biology

Interdisciplinary methods and latest topics in systems biology

Coverage of a new field of recent research in biology and medicine

Understanding of mechanisms underlying the complexity and dynamics of biological systems

Contents:

Dynamics and Complexity of Intercellular Networks.- Integrative Synaptic Mechanisms of the Neural Network.- The Molecular and Cellular Design of Networks in Motion.- Bacterial Complexity: More Is Different on All Levels.- How Animals Get Their Skin Patterns: Fish Pigment Pattern as a Live Turing Wave.- Characterization and Application of Natural Light-Sensitive Proteins.- Systems Biology of Mammalian Circadian Clocks.- Toward Understanding How the Immune System Establishes a Diverse Yet Self-Tolerant T-Cell Repertoire: Stepwise Roles of Thymic Microenvironments.- The Mechanisms of Motor Programming for Learned Vocalization in Songbirds.- Dynamic Model of the Basal Ganglia Functions and Movement Disorders.- Integrative Mechanism of Intracellular Information Networks.- A Posttranslational Chemical Circadian Oscillator in Cyanobacteria.- The Apoptotic Signaling Network Dynamically Interprets the Outputs of Individual Signaling Pathways in an Early Analog and Late Digital Manner.- Specific Features of Transient Ras and Sustained Rap1 Activation.- Control and Alteration of Protein Traffic in the Cell.- Plant Functional Genomics Based on Integration of Metabolomics and Transcriptomics: Toward Plant Systems Biology.- A Possible Role of Homeostasis Between Monomeric and Filamentous Actin in Filament Nucleation Revealed by Pharmacokinetic Modeling.- Molecules, Networks, and Memory.- Systems Biology Meets Single-Cell Physiology: Role of a Positive-Feedback Signal Transduction Network in Cerebellar Long-Term Synaptic Depression.- Computational Models of Cerebellar Long-Term Memory.- Biogenesis and Function Mechanisms of Micro-RNAs and Their Role as Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressors.- Dysfunction of Information Networks and Related Diseases.- The Pathogenetic Significance of Deregulated Transcription Factors in Hematological Malignancies.- Ultradian Oscillation Networks in Somite Segmentation and Other Biological Events.- The Cellular Basis of Dictyostelium Morphogenesis.- Metabolic Information Highway: Interorgan Metabolic Communication Via the Autonomic Nervous System.- Involvement of the CCR4-NOT Deadenylase Complex in the Control of Cell Growth.- Reconstruction of Nuclear Reprogramming by Defined Factors.