Genomics BIO431SB
Contents
Definition
Genomics is an area within genetics that concerns the sequencing and analysis of an organism’s genome.
Genomics
The genome is the entire DNA content that is present within one cell of an organism. Experts in genomics strive to determine complete DNA sequences and perform genetic mapping to help understand disease.
Genomics also involves the study of intragenomic processes such as epistasis, heterosis and pleiotropy as well as the interactions between loci and alleles within the genome. The fields of molecular biology and genetics are mainly concerned with the study of the role and function of single genes, a major topic in today’s biomedical research. By contrast, genomics does not involve single gene research unless the purpose is to understand a single gene’s effects in context of the entire genome.
Estimating the number of genes in an organism basing on the number of nucleotide base pairs wasnot reliable, due to the presence of high numbers of redundant copies of many genes.
Genomics has corrected this situation. Useful genescan be selected from a gene library thus constructed and inserted into other organisms for improvement or harmful genes can be silenced.
In the areas of Structural genomics, Functional genomics and Nutritional genomics, bioinformatics plays a vital role.
Applications of BIOINFORMATICS
a) Structural Genomics:- Focuses on large scale genome structure determination, geneidentification and characterization.
b) Functional Genomics:- Focuses on predicting and identifying and characterization of genes and genomes based on function.
c) Nutritional Genomics:-Focuses oncharacterizing and inferring nutritional relevance to identified genes.
Genetics and health in the developing world
Genomics is in its formative stages; a great deal of information has been gathered, and the challenge is now to translate it into useful applications. Developing countries could benefit scientifically, economically and in terms of health outcomes, from being part of this foundational, dynamic and often collaborative research. There are examples of developing countries that have made the decision to invest in building capacity in genomics.
