Sunday, March 7, 2010

Chapter 21: Genomes and Thier Evolution


3 Main Questions:
- What is genomic?
The study of whole sets of genes and their interaction.
- What is bioinformatics:
The use of computers, software, and methematical models to process and itegrate biological from large date sets.
- What is Human Genome Project?
An international collaboartive effort to map and sequence the DNA of the entire human genome.

5 Main Facts:
- The chimpanzee is our closest living relative on the evolutionary of life.
- Using available DNA sequences, geneticists can study genes directly, without having to infer genotype from phenotype, as in classical genetics.
- The identities of about half of the human genes were known before the Human Genome Project began.
- Sometimes a newly identified sequence will match, at least partially, the sequence of a gene or protein whose function is well known.
- Genomics and proteomics are enabling biologists to approach the study life from an increasingly global prespective.

Diagram:
Whole genome shotgun approach to sequencing. In this approach, developed by Craig Venter and colleagues at the company he founded, Celera Genomics, random DNA fragments are sequenced and then ordered relative to each other.

Summary:
The chimpanzee is our closest relative on the evolutionary tree of life. Its genome was sequenced in 2005, two years after sequencing of the human genome was largely completed. Now that we can compare our genome with that of the chimpanzee base by base.
We can tackle the more general issue of what differences in the genetic information account for the distinct characteristics of these two species of primates. With the genomes of many species fully sequences, scientist can study whole sets of genes and their interactions, an approach called genomics.

Video:

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