Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics

Bioinformatics is a computer based discipline which deals with the acquisition, storage, management, access and processing of data of molecular biosciences, and started with the networking of computers and accumulation of data on genes and proteins in biotechnology. Functional genomics is a field of molecular biology that attempts to make use of the vast wealth of data given by genomic and transcriptomic projects (such as genome sequencing projects and RNA sequencing) to describe gene (and protein) functions and interactions. In developmental biology, organs that developed in the embryo in the same manner and from similar origins, such as from matching primordia in successive segments of the same animal, are serially homologous. Examples include the legs of a centipede, the maxillary palp and labial palp of an insect, and the spinous processes of successive vertebrae in a vertebral column. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique used to make numerous copies of a specific segment of DNA quickly and accurately. The polymerase chain reaction enables investigators to obtain the large quantities of DNA that are required for various experiments and procedures in molecular biology, forensic analysis, evolutionary biology, and medical diagnostics. This book will focus on functional genomics and how to search and use the information using bioinformatics.