Systems Biology Brings Life Sciences Closer: —Report on the China-UK Systems Biology Workshop 2005

Chen, Ming

The afternoon session began with a lecture on the genetic analysis of complex traits by Jun Zhu. He described a new statistical model for characterizing specific quantitative trait loci (QTL) that display environment-dependent genetic expressions and genotype × environment interactions for developmental trajectories. The model provides the basis for deciphering the genetic architecture of trait expression adjusted to different biotic and abiotic environments and genetic relationships for growth rates and the timing of life-history events for any organism. David Westhead (University of Leeds, UK) presented a topic on “Genomes, predictions, networks, and systems”. He studied the reconstruction of metabolic networks, mainly in parasite systems, and plant regulatory networks, particularly associated with the GATA transcription factor family in plants. The MetaShark tool developed by his group is available to reconstruct metabolic networks. Regarding the simulation of metabolism, Yuanyuan Li (Shanghai Center for Bioinformation Technology, China) reported the dynamic flux balance analysis (DFBA) of myocardial energy metabolism under ischemic condition. She utilized DFBA to simulate the myocardial energy metabolism in vivo in mammalian. The model successfully predicted the well-established dynamic transitions of myocardial metabolism. In comparison to a mechanistic method, the DFBA-based model provides similar modeling results with much less kinetic information. The presentation by Gerhard Buck-Sorlin (Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany) dealt with a new extension of the L-System formalism, Relational Growth Grammars (RGG), and their implementation into the Java-based modelling language XL. Taking the example of barley, he showed how different biological processes (morphogenesis, genetics, and hormonal regulation of internode elongation) that take place at different scales can be modeled using one and the same concise formalism.