Bioinformatics Flashcards
When was the structure of DNA determined?
1953
Since the determination of the structure of DNA in 1953 and the realisation that this molecule is the carrier of genetic information, it became a scientific priority to …
…determine the precise sequence of nucleotides within chromosomes and find out the relationship between this sequence and the workings of the cell.
In 1977 Fred Sanger published…
… the first “rapid” DNA sequencing method
In 1977 Fred Sanger published the first “rapid” DNA sequencing method
The same year, he published the first …
…complete DNA genome, which was of the Phi X 174 (ΦX174) bacteriophage
In 1995 the first complete genome was sequenced and published of the …
…bacterium Haemophilus influenzae.
Describe the genome of the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae.
Circular DNA genome consisting of
1,830,140 base pairs
How many protein encoding genes does Haemophilus influenzae encode?
Encodes 1740 protein encoding genes
In 1997, the first complete eukaryotic genome was sequence and published of …
…the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
How is DNA organised in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae?
DNA organised on 16 chromosomes consisting of:
12,156,677 base pairs
How many potential genes does the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encode?
6275
In 2003 the complete human genome was …
… sequenced and published.
Since the completion of the human genome there has been an explosion in the amount of …
…DNA sequence data available due to advances in DNA sequencing techniques
Since 1995 the number of DNA sequences deposited into DNA databases has been …
…growing exponentially
February 2021 GenBank sequence database contains:-
776,291,211,106 bases
in
226,241,476 sequence records
there are 3 principal comprehensive databases of nucleic acid sequences in the World which are:
1) EMBL – European Molecular Biology Laboratory
2) GenBank – National Centre for Biotechnology
3) DDBJ – DNA Data Bank of Japan
The 3 principal comprehensive databases share…
…information
The 3 principal comprehensive databases share information and hence…
…contain almost identical sequences, and store sequence information that is publicly and freely accessible
Define bioinformatics?
the use of computational methods to study biological data
What is the first definition of bioinformatics?
1) The development of computational methods for studying the structure, function and evolution of genes, proteins and whole genomes.
What is the second definition of bioinformatics?
2) The development of methods for the management and analysis of biological information arising from genomics and high-throughput experiments
What is genomics?
the study of whole sets of genes rather than a single gene
What are high-throughput experiments?
development of experimental techniques that allow the study of thousands of genes simultaneously e.g. microarray technology/proteomics
by understanding the process of mutation and selection that act on the DNA sequences, molecular biologists can …
…compare the DNA and protein sequences of common genes between different species to develop molecular phylogenetic trees
in fact, evolutionary ideas underlie…
…many of the methods used in bioinformatics
in fact, evolutionary ideas underlie many of the methods used in bioinformatics -we use them to …
…compare sequences, identify families of genes and proteins and establish homology between genes in different organisms.
What is meant by degenerate?
several codons may code for a single amino acid meaning that a nucleotide change may not result in a change of amino acid
Since the genetic code is degenerate, sometimes it is more informative to …
…examine the amino acid sequence of the protein gene product.
Computer software can convert …
… a dna sequence into an amino acid sequence.
How many possible reading frames are there?
3 possible reading frames
Three possible reading frames x two strands of DNA = ?
Six possible translations.
As well as reading the code, the software looks for …
… start signals (AUG) and stop signals (UGA, UAG, UAA), to find the open reading frames (ORFs).