Principles of Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is the combination of biology and information technology. It is the branch of science that deals with the computer based analysis of large biological data sets. Bioinformatics incorporates the development of databases to store and search data and of statistical tools and algorithms to analyze and determine relationships between biological data sets such as macromolecular sequences, expression profiles and biological pathways. Bioinformatics deals with research, development, and application of computational tools and approaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral or health science data. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material that contains the genetic information for development and helps in maintaining all the functions in a living organisms. The information is stored as genetic codes using four different bases. They are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine(C) and thymine (T). In two strands of DNA, adenine always pair with thymine and guanine pair with cytosine. Each of these base pairs will bond with a sugar and phosphate molecule to form a nucleotide. The base pairing of DNA will result in a ladder shape structure of these strands which is called a double helix. RNA is differs from DNA only in 1 base pair i.e. in RNA it is uracil (U) instead of thymine(T). The present text offers a clear exposition of the Principles of Bioinformatics. Accessible to students in both biology and computer science, it strikes a unique balance between rigorous mathematics and practical techniques, emphasizing the ideas underlying computational rather than offering a collection of apparently unrelated problems. This book is an attempt to furnish a simple, non-mathematical text for those who desire to equip themselves with the knowledge of the elementary bioinformatics.