ABSTRACT
The last decades experienced a signifi cant scientifi c revolution prompted by the introduction of “genomics”, a new discipline that shifted the focus of research from the study of a single gene to the overall set of genes of a living organism and their inter-relationships. The release of complete genomic sequences, from bacteria to human, provided the scientifi c community with massive and fundamental information but, at the same time, highlighted that knowing when, how and where proteins are expressed is mandatory to truly understand the way a biological system works in optimal or adverse conditions. This paved the way to the onset of the “-omic sciences” (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and so on), i.e., the study of RNA, proteins and metabolites in a holistic view. On the other hand, it was soon evident that the integration of knowledge provided by different -omic sciences in a systems biology perspective, could be crucial to decipher functionality and dynamics of a biological system as a single entity or a part of complex ecosystems.
