2.2 Biological networks

Biology deals with a wide range of subjects from molecules to vast ecosystems.

DNA, RNA, proteins and metabolites combine and interact to form cells.

These cells aggregate to form tissues on complex organisms.

Different tissues and organs form organisms, that vary from very simple to the most sophisticated and complex systems known.

Finally, these organisms (millions and millions of different species) form ecosystems.

All these layers of complexity and connection can be (and usually are) represented by networks.

These have become so fundamental to represent and understand biological beings that the concept itself has become somewhat indivisible from biology.

The network representation and concept has become the core of the systemic approach to biology as we understand it nowadays.