ISSUE 51 • PUBLISHED BY AG-WEST BIOTECH INC.

DECEMBER 1 9 9 9

Scientists are making exciting discoveries in the

field of genomics, an area of study which looks at

the DNA sequence of an organism in order to

determine what genes code for beneficial traits

and which genes are involved in inherited

diseases. As this field advances, and more

information is generated, scientists need a way to

store and analyze that information. Computers

can greatly assist that process. As a result, a new

research area which combines the study of

biotechnology and the use of computers is

emerging. This field is referred to as

bioinformatics and involves the use of Internet

tools, artificial intelligence and other advanced

computational methods to assist in storing and

analyzing data generated from DNA sequencing.

There are many ways in which computers can aid

research into genomics.

1. Information Storage

DNA is a molecule made from sugar, phosphate

and bases called guanine (G), cytosine (C),

adenine (A), and thymine (T). The various

combinations of these bases make up the DNA in

plants, animals, bacteria, yeast and fungi. Imagine

if these bases were blocks, how many different

ways you could place them. For example you

could have AAGCT, CCAGT, TACGGT etc. An

infinite number of combinations of these bases are

possible.

A database system is a computerized record-

keeping system. With the increasing amount of

information, new database systems continue to be

developed. Scientists are currently trying to

determine the entire DNA sequence of various

living things. Perhaps one of the best known

projects is the Human Genome Project. The

genomes of yeast called S. cerevisiae and a

roundworm C. elegans have been completed. In

addition, several chromosomes from rice and

corn, and a plant commonly used for research

called Arabidopsis thaliana are completed and

soon the entire genome of these plants will be

completed. In agricultural research, scientists are

trying to determine the maps for barley, wheat,

rice, Arabidopsis and other crops and livestock.

Each year, for the human genome project alone,

scientists determine more than 210 million

nucleotide base pairs, the code that makes up a

DNA sequence. By the end of this year, it has

Computers and Biotechnology

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been predicted that the human genome sequence

databases will have grown to 4 billion base pairs.

The effort to sequence the Arabidopsis genome

will require determining the sequence of a 120-

megabase sequence.

Computers can greatly assisting in storing

managing and storing all of this information.

2. Data analysis

Determining the DNA sequence for these crops

and livestock is only the first step in a genomics

project! Results generated from DNA

sequencing could identify genes, regulatory

sequences and other functions.

Genes are the units of DNA that code for

particular traits. Once the information of the

DNA sequence has been determined, the next

step is to find out what these genes code for.

This area of genomics is referred to as functional

genomics as it involves determining the function

of a gene. To determine function, scientists

study gene expression, which will determine

when, where and how much of a protein is

produced.

These processes are assisted by comparing one

DNA sequence to the sequence from closely

related organisms. Computers can help compare

DNA sequences and look for homologies, or

related strands of DNA. One can also compare

DNA sequences to determine how closely two

different species are related on an evolutionary

scale.

3. Communication with scientists

around the world

Information on genome research needs to be

shared with other scientists around the world.

The Internet links hundreds of thousands of

individual networks all over the world. Internet

tools include electronic mail (e-mail). Most

people are familiar with newsgroups, online

chatting, and especially the World Wide Web

(Web). The Web can be used to format, retrieve

and display information by text, graphics, audio,

video, and animations. More and more

bioinformatics information has been published

over the Internet.

Many of the tools used to analyze DNA and

protein sequences are also stored on the Internet

for easy access by scientists.

Computer technology and genome research have

both grown rapidly over the past decade. It is

expected that information technology will

continue to provide rapid advances to make

genome research more efficient, leading to better

methods to diagnose diseases, to identify

beneficial traits and to provide cures for crop,

animal and human diseases.

Ag-West would like to thank Zhuan (Mike) Chen of Key
Media Systems for reviewing this article. Mr. Chen
received an M.Sc. in molecular biology from the
University of Saskatchewan in 1998 and is currently
completing an M.Sc. at the Department of Computer
Science. He has recently accepted a position as Software
Engineer at the Whitehead/MIT Centre for Genome
Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.