Answer to Question #144679 in Organic Chemistry for Yuki

Question

Genome mining involves a combination of genomics, bioinformatics, molecular biology and analytical chemistry. Briefly outline what takes place at each of these steps in the process.

Answer 1

Genomics:

Genomics aims at the collective characterization and quantification of all of an organism's genes, their interrelations and influence on the organism. Genomics also involves the sequencing and analysis of genomes through the use of high throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to assemble and analyze the function and structure of entire genomes.

Bioinformatics:

BioInformatics is the use of computers to analyze the large amounts of genetic sequence data. In genome mining it is used in identifying the genomic sequence data of interest, cleaning the data of unnecessary information, reformatting the data into convenient forms for analysis, and then interpreting the genomic data for different patterns or relationships.

Molecular biology:

The field of molecular biology that deals with genomics is called "Functional genomics".

Functional genomics attempts to make use of the vast wealth of data from bioinformatics storage sites (such as genome sequencing projects) to describe gene (and protein) functions and interactions. Functional genomics focuses on the dynamic aspects such as gene transcription, translation, and protein–protein interactions, as opposed to the static aspects of genomics such as DNA sequence or structures.

Analytical Chemistry:

This is used in genome mining by studying and using instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify gene clusters by purification, identification, and characterization of the constituents.