Bottom-up systems biology

Bottom-up systems biology does not rely that heavily on Omics. It predates top-down systems biology and it developed out of the endeavors associated with the construction of the first mathematical models of metabolism in the 1960s [10, 11], the development of enzyme kinetics [12-15], metabolic control analysis [16, 17], biochemical systems theory [18], nonequilibrium thermodynamics [6, 19, 20], and the pioneering work on emergent aspects of networks by researchers such as Jacob, Monod, and Koshland [21-23]. 

In the top-down approach, the techniques involved are usually expensive, but seem more established due to their convergent focus on miniaturization. The situation is quite different for the bottom-up approach, where the focus is highly divergent. However, in spite of their complexity, bottom-up systems are quite feasible and biology provides the best-known examples. Effectively, one can become inspired by Namre s wisdom, beauty, and subtleness to evolve into the nanoworld. 

Several approaches are utilized to study systems biology. The bottom-up approach starts from the molecular level, the omics, to identify and evaluate the genomic and proteomic basis of diseases. The top-down approach attempts to integrate human physiology and diseases to provide models to understand disease pathways at organ levels. 

Two approaches can be distinguished in systems biology top-down and bottom-up [7, 8], They relate to the different histories of the biological sciences [9]. They have in common that they aim to understand how the properties of systems (or networks) as a whole derive from the properties and the interactions between their molecular constituents. Such networks may include signaling, genetic, and metabolic networks. The approaches differ in their perspective, in the size of the networks they consider, and in their precision. And, the two methods are used to different purposes. 

Figure 49.1. Top-down and bottom-up approach in stud5dng systems biology. Tliere are tliree components contiibudng equally to study biology systems tlieoretical, conceptual, and experimental approaches. All of tliese approaches more and more heavily deijend on implementation of effective bioinformatics tools. Hypotliesis driven and discovery diiven project equally pai ticipate in studying systems biology.

Top-down approach in studies of systems biology is preferential over bottom-up approach because ... 

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