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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jun 28.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Genet. 2010 Sep;11(9):647–657. doi: 10.1038/nrg2857

Figure 1. Generating and integrating large-scale, diverse types of data.

Figure 1

Modelling living systems will require generating (a) and integrating (b) multidimensional data sets. In b, large-scale, complex data sets are shown as a network in which the nodes represent variables of biological interest, such as DNA variation, RNA variation, protein levels, protein states, metabolite levels and disease-associated traits, and the edges between these nodes represent causal relationships between the variables. These more granular networks (at the gene level) can be effectively summarized into subnetworks (c) that interact with one another both within and between tissues. In this way, a network-centred view is obtained of how core biological processes interact with one another to define physiological states associated with disease. Part b is adapted, with permission, from REF. 40 © (2009) Macmillan Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.