Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestrasse 1, Freiburg, Germany.
J Biotechnol. 2012 Jul 31;160(1-2):80-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2012.01.014. Epub 2012 Jan 25.
The recent implementation of various high-throughput biochemical and bioanalytical platforms for the study of biological systems has resulted in a wealth of experimental information that systems biology integrates into models and functional descriptions of organisms. The fast tempo of systems biology development is currently bringing in a revolution in the understanding of cell networks by providing with a holistic comprehension of cellular components and their interaction dynamics. This thorough description of biological systems has laid the grounds for the development of synthetic biology, a discipline applying basic principles of engineering for the rational assembly of biological modules into higher order complex biological systems with desired properties. Despite the success of this new field for the generation of biotechnological tools, it has not been yet widely applied to plant systems. This review aims at describing the current status of systems biology, its contribution to our understanding of plant metabolism, expression and regulatory networks and how synthetic biology approaches could benefit utilising plant and bacterial 'omics' as a source for the design and development of biological modules for the improvement of plant stress tolerance and crop production, among other applications. The article further describes synthetic biology strategies currently being applied to plant metabolic engineering, development of signalling pathways and synthetic organelles, and the potential of this new field for the understanding of plant cellular functioning and the generation of plant biotechnological tools.
最近，各种高通量生化和生物分析平台在生物系统研究中的应用，产生了大量的实验信息，系统生物学将这些信息整合到生物体的模型和功能描述中。系统生物学的快速发展目前正在通过对细胞成分及其相互作用动力学的整体理解，带来细胞网络理解的革命。这种对生物系统的全面描述为合成生物学的发展奠定了基础，合成生物学是一门应用工程学基本原理将生物模块合理组装成具有所需特性的更高阶复杂生物系统的学科。尽管这一新领域在生物技术工具的生成方面取得了成功，但它尚未广泛应用于植物系统。本文旨在描述系统生物学的现状，它对我们理解植物代谢、表达和调控网络的贡献，以及合成生物学方法如何受益于利用植物和细菌的“组学”作为设计和开发生物模块的来源，以提高植物的抗胁迫能力和作物产量，以及其他应用。本文进一步描述了目前应用于植物代谢工程、信号通路和合成细胞器开发的合成生物学策略，以及该新领域在理解植物细胞功能和生成植物生物技术工具方面的潜力。
