using DNA sequencing

• what is bioinformatics? (don't need to know as definition)

  • development of software needed to analyse raw biological data
  • useful when a lot of data needs to be analysed at a given time
• what is the term used for using sequencing techniques and computational biology to analyse the genome?

  genomics
• how is computational biology useful in medicine?

  • reveals patterns of DNA we inherit
  • and therefore diseases we are susceptible to
  • reveals likelihood of developing these diseases
  • useful for epidemiology (dealing with incidence, distribution and possible control of diseases)
• what are the advantages of analysing the genomes of pathogens?

  • doctors can discover the source of an infection
  • can identify antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria and ensure antibiotics would be used only when needed, preventing resistant spread
  • can track the progress of an outbreak of a serious disease
  • identify genetic markers for use in vaccines
  • regions in the pathogen useful for the development of drugs
• what technique can scientists use to determine which species an organism belongs to or if a new species has been discovered? why is this useful?

  • can use DNA barcoding
  • this is identifying sections of genome which are similar in all species (a conserved genome region) but still vary slightly between them
  • This enables comparisons to be made
  • section of genome to compare in animals is quick and cheap to sequence
  • therefore scientists don't have to produce stock sequences for all the different species, and advantage over traditional methods
• what are the disadvantages of DNA barcoding

  the method isn't perfect- scientists have not come up with suitable regions for fungi and bacteria
• how can computational biology be used to identify evolutionary relationships?

  • DNA of different organisms can be compared
  • as basic mutation rate of DNA can be calculated
  • so scientists can calculate how long ago two species diverged
  • scientists can build up DNA sequencing tables and evolutionary trees- great accuracy
• what is proteomics?

  study and AA sequencing of an organism's entire protein complement
• How is proteomics useful?

  • computational biology can be used to analyse the genome of an organism and therefore identify the genes which code for an AA sequence in all proteins it produces
  • identified that the genome sequence alone can't do this as some genes can code for many different proteins (degenerate)
  • provides increasing knowledge about relationships between genotype and phenotype
• how can proteins have several different phenotypes?

  • splicing- pre-mRNA splices- introns removed and exons joined together in spliceosome
  • gives mature mRNA, but the spliceosome may join the exons together in different ways
  • so a single gene can produce several functioning versions of mRNA, which could code for different arrangements of AAs
  • this results in several different phenotypes
• what is synthetic biology?

  design of artificial biological pathways or the redesign of existing biological systems
• what can synthetic bio be used for?

  • Genetic engineering
  • use of immobilised enzymes- industrial techniques
  • synthesis of new genes to replace faulty ones (eg CF gene)
  • synthesis of new organisms
• describe how synthetic biology, bioinformatics and computational biology can be useful to us

  SYNTHETIC-

  • predictions about synthetic proteins using DNA sequencing
  • GM of organisms
  • sequencing determines base order
  • order of bases related to AA sequence

  BIOINFORMATICS:

  • data bases of DNA/AA sequences and protein structures
  • metabolic pathways
  • algorithms
  • stat tests

  COMPUTATIONAL BIO-

  • analysis of large amounts of data
  • prediction of AA sequence
  • modelling of protein structure
  • algorithms and stat tests