4. Using genome projects

• Genome


  • Entire genetic material/DNA of an organism
  • Found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells
• Sequencing a genome


  Working out the DNA base sequence for all the DNA within a cell
• Improvements to sequencing projects

  • Through advancements in technology
  • Gene sequencing methods are continuously being improved and updated
  • It had now become automated with methods like the the Sanger methods (computer reads the genome)
• Human genome project


  • Completed in 2003
  • Mapped out the entire sequence of the human for the first time
• Proteome


  All the proteins an organism can make
• Why identifying the proteome is easier in smaller organisms

  • They do not contain introns
  • Only exons
  • All their DNA codes for the sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide chain
• How identifying the genome allows for the identification of the proteome

  Genome can be directly used to sequence the proteome
• Why understanding the proteome of smaller organisms is helpful

  • Practically useful in medical research
  • Allows us to identify potential antigens on their cell surface membrane - within the proteome
  • Design vaccines against those particular antigens
• Why identifying the proteome is harder in complex organisms

  • Have introns - non-coding sequences of DNA - junk DNA
  • Have regulatory genes - start and stop codons
  • The genome can not be easily translated into the proteome
• Compare the older genome sequencing techniques to current ones

  • Older techniques were more labour-intensive, expensive and only conducted on a small scale
  • Newer techniques are automated, more cost-effective and conducted on a large scale