Systems biology experimental design - Considerations for building predictive gene regulatory network models for prokaryotic systems

The goal of systems biology is to describe and quantitatively model complete biological systems. It is a reasonable goal to begin by developing quantitative models that accurately recapitulate many aspects of gene regulatory networks for some simple organisms. We consider here the advantages of using prokaryotic organisms as model systems in the initial development of such quantitative models. In addition, we discuss some of the benefits of studying stress responses in these organisms and illustrate some of the biological and theoretical complexities facing the analyses of dynamic biological systems.