Towards Systems Biology of Heterosis: A Hypothesis about Molecular Network Structure Applied for the Arabidopsis Metabolome

We propose a network structure-based model for heterosis, and investigate it relying on metabolite profiles from Arabidopsis. A simple feed-forward two-layer network model (the Steinbuch matrix) is used in our conceptual approach. It allows for directly relating structural network properties with bi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:EURASIP journal on bioinformatics & systems biology 2009, Vol.2009 (1), p.147157-12
Main Authors: Andorf, Sandra, Gärtner, Tanja, Steinfath, Matthias, Witucka-Wall, Hanna, Altmann, Thomas, Repsilber, Dirk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arabidopsis
Biology
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Computational Biology/Bioinformatics
Engineering
Modelling
Network Structure and Biological Function: Reconstruction
Quantitative genetics
Research Article
Signal,Image and Speech Processing
Statistical Approaches
Studies
Systems Biology
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Summary:We propose a network structure-based model for heterosis, and investigate it relying on metabolite profiles from Arabidopsis. A simple feed-forward two-layer network model (the Steinbuch matrix) is used in our conceptual approach. It allows for directly relating structural network properties with biological function. Interpreting heterosis as increased adaptability, our model predicts that the biological networks involved show increasing connectivity of regulatory interactions. A detailed analysis of metabolite profile data reveals that the increasing-connectivity prediction is true for graphical Gaussian models in our data from early development. This mirrors properties of observed heterotic Arabidopsis phenotypes. Furthermore, the model predicts a limit for increasing hybrid vigor with increasing heterozygosity—a known phenomenon in the literature.
ISSN:1687-4145
1687-4153
1687-4153
DOI:10.1155/2009/147157