Laboratoire de reproduction et développement des plantes, INRA, CNRS, ENS, 46, allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France.
C R Biol. 2009 Nov;332(11):974-85. doi: 10.1016/j.crvi.2009.09.008.
The shoot apical meristem is a population of stem cells which controls the initiation of leaves, flowers and branches during the entire life of the plant. Although we have gained significant new insight in the nature of the genetic networks and cellular processes that control meristem function, major questions have remained unsolved. It has been difficult, for instance, to define the precise role of genetic determinants in controlling morphogenesis and the control of shape is currently a major and largely unresolved issue in plant biology. This is a difficult task, notably because it is close to impossible to predict the activity of a single gene, in a context where thousands of genes interact. Systems biology has emerged as a powerful tool to address this type of issue. Systems biology analyses processes such as plant development at different scales, describing not only the properties of individual cells but also their interactions. The complexity of the information involved is such, that it cannot be understood and integrated on a purely intuitive basis. For this reason, building on the acquisition of quantitative data, computer models have become more and more important. The first models have begun to reproduce gene network behaviours and dynamical shape changes, providing new insight in the control of morphogenesis.
茎尖分生组织是一群干细胞，在植物的整个生命周期中控制着叶片、花朵和枝条的起始。尽管我们在控制分生组织功能的遗传网络和细胞过程的本质方面取得了重大的新见解，但仍有一些重大问题尚未解决。例如，要确定遗传决定因素在控制形态发生中的精确作用一直很困难，而形状的控制目前是植物生物学中的一个主要且尚未解决的问题。这是一项艰巨的任务，尤其是因为在成千上万的基因相互作用的情况下，预测单个基因的活性几乎是不可能的。系统生物学已成为解决此类问题的有力工具。系统生物学分析了植物发育等过程在不同尺度上的情况，不仅描述了单个细胞的特性，还描述了它们之间的相互作用。所涉及的信息如此复杂，仅凭直觉是无法理解和整合的。出于这个原因，在获取定量数据的基础上，计算机模型变得越来越重要。最初的模型已经开始再现基因网络行为和动态形状变化，为形态发生的控制提供了新的见解。
