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Conceptual Challenges of the Systemic Approach in Understanding Cell Differentiation

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Systems Biology

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1702))

Abstract

The cells of a multicellular organism are derived from a single zygote and genetically identical. Yet, they are phenotypically very different. This difference is the result of a process commonly called cell differentiation. How the phenotypic diversity emerges during ontogenesis or regeneration is a central and intensely studied but still unresolved issue in biology. Cell biology is facing conceptual challenges that are frequently confused with methodological difficulties. How to define a cell type? What stability or change means in the context of cell differentiation and how to deal with the ubiquitous molecular variations seen in the living cells? What are the driving forces of the change? We propose to reframe the problem of cell differentiation in a systemic way by incorporating different theoretical approaches. The new conceptual framework is able to capture the insights made at different levels of cellular organization and considered previously as contradictory. It also provides a formal strategy for further experimental studies.

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Acknowledgments

I thank my colleagues, Alice Moussy, Daniel Stockholm, and Guillaume Corre, for the helpful discussions and the useful comments on the manuscript.

Financial support: EPHE, Genethon, Stochagene ANR grant n° BSV6 014 02.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, UMRS_951, INSERM, Univ-Evry, Genethon, 1 rue de I’Internationale, Evry, 91002, France

    Andras Paldi

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  1. Andras Paldi
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Correspondence to Andras Paldi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Medicine, Systems Biology Group Lab, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Mariano Bizzarri

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Paldi, A. (2018). Conceptual Challenges of the Systemic Approach in Understanding Cell Differentiation. In: Bizzarri, M. (eds) Systems Biology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1702. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7456-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7456-6_3

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7455-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7456-6

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