A Systems Biology Approach in Fisheries Science

Abstract

Systems biology is concerned with complex interactions in biological systems, employing a holistic manner in addition to classical reductionism. Systems biology uses statistics, computational biology, and mathematical modelling to integrate and analyse vast data sets to obtain a better knowledge of biology and predict the behaviour of biological systems. It has gained attention in fisheries because of its ability to uncover novel processes. It can generate a panorama of events that occur within fish. In a systems biology approach, data from fish genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics are integrated, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of dynamic systems with varying degrees of biological organisation. Protein-protein interactions help us understand the systematic mechanisms underlying overall growth, development, physiology, and disease in fish. Systems biology and omics techniques are being applied in a variety of fisheries studies such as species identification, understanding the processes of infection and stress tolerance, fishpathogen interactions, fish disease diagnostics and disease control, the impact of environmental factors on fish, and determining the fish's response to these, identification of gene sequences and biomarkers. Except for a few pioneering applications of system biology to Fisheries, this approach to fisheries research is still in its infancy stage. Systems biology has the potential to provide solutions to the diverse issues of fisheries.