Modularity: a new perspective in biology

Several decades of research in biochemistry and molecular biology have been devoted for studies on isolated enzymes and proteins. Recent high throughput technologies in genomics and proteomics have resulted in avalanche of information about several genes, proteins and enzymes in variety of living sy...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of biochemistry & biophysics 2007-06, Vol.44 (3), p.133-139
Main Authors: Dani, Diksha N, Sainis, Jayashree K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biology - methods
Biophysics - methods
Genome
Genomics
Metabolic Networks and Pathways
Models, Biological
Molecular Biology - methods
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Proteomics - methods
Systems Biology
Transcription, Genetic
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Several decades of research in biochemistry and molecular biology have been devoted for studies on isolated enzymes and proteins. Recent high throughput technologies in genomics and proteomics have resulted in avalanche of information about several genes, proteins and enzymes in variety of living systems. Though these efforts have greatly contributed to the detailed understanding of a large number of individual genes and proteins, this explosion of information has simultaneously brought out the limitations of reductionism in understanding complex biological processes. The genes or gene products do not function in isolation in vivo. A delicate and dynamic molecular architecture is required for precision of the chemical reactions associated with "life". In future, a paradigm shift is, therefore, envisaged, in biology leading to exploration of molecular organizations in physical and genomic context, a subtle transition from conventional molecular biology to modular biology. A module can be defined as an organization of macromolecules performing a synchronous function in a given metabolic pathway. In modular biology, the biological processes of interest are explored as complex systems of functionally interacting macromolecules. The present article describes the perceptions of the concept of modularity, in terms of associations among genes and proteins, presenting a link between reductionist approach and system biology.
ISSN:0301-1208