Elsevier

Current Opinion in Systems Biology

Volume 1, February 2017, Pages 80-83
Current Opinion in Systems Biology

Cross-hierarchy systems principles

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coisb.2016.12.006Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Cross-hierarchy similarities in biology may emerge as design principles.

  • Examples of cross-hierarchy similarities include exploratory behavior, Weber's Law, and bow-tie architecture.

  • Cross-hierarchy similarities may constrain evolved design of biological systems.

Abstract

One driving motivation of systems biology is the search for general principles that govern the design of biological systems. But questions often arise as to what kind of general principles biology could have. Concepts from engineering such as robustness and modularity are indeed becoming a regular way of describing biological systems. Another source of potential general principles is the emerging similarities found in processes across biological hierarchies. In this piece, I describe several emerging cross-hierarchy similarities. Identification of more cross-hierarchy principles, and understanding the implications these convergence have on the construction of biological systems, I believe, present exciting challenges for systems biology in the decades to come.

Keywords

Systems biology
Design principles
Exploratory behavior
Weber's Law
Bow-tie architecture

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