© 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Systems biology approaches have recently garnered much interest in plant biology, primarily due to the massive increase of data obtained using genomic approaches. One advantage of using these approaches is the elucidation of emergent behaviour, or a complex pattern, which results from the interaction of simple components. The use of systems biology approaches to understand root development at various scales, including transcriptional networks that regulate cell identity, dynamic cellular behaviour that contributes to root growth and physical root architecture will be explored.