Omics Technologies Flashcards
What is Genomics?
The study of all of an organisms genes (the genome)
What is Epigenomics?
The study of the reversible chemical modifications to DNA
What is Transcriptomics?
The study of the complete set of RNA transcripts from DNA
What are the TWO dominant classes of measurement technologies for the transciptome?
Microarrays & RNA Sequencing
What is Proteomics?
The study of a set of proteins produced in an organism
What is Metabolomics?
The study of small molecules (metabolites) within cells
What are the major techniques used in Metabolomics?
NMR & Mass Spectroscopy
What is Translatomics?
The study of all mRNAs being actively translated in a cell
Who solved the 3D structure of DNA?
Watson & Crick
(1953)
Who won The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the structure of Insulin?
Frederick Sanger
(1958)
What enzymes are able to cut RNA chains at specific sites?
RNase enzymes
What was the limitation in the early efforts of nucleic acid sequencing?
Only able to measure nucleotide composition, and not order
What was the first whole nucleic acid sequence produced by Robert Holley in 1956?
Alanine tRNA from Saccharomyces cerevisiae
What was Walter Fiers’ laboratory able to produce in 1972?
First complete protein-coding gene
What technique was developed in 1977 that altered the progress of DNA sequencing technology?
Sanger’s ‘Chain-Termination’
What are the TWO techniques used in First-Generation DNA Sequencing?
- Sanger sequencing
- Maxam-Gilbert sequencing
Who won the 1980 Nobel Prize for their work into nucleic acids?
Berg, Gilbert, & Sanger
What was radiolabelling in Sanger sequencing replaced with?
Fluorometric based detection
How was detection in Sanger sequencing improved?
Through capillary based electrophoresis
What did the improvements in Sanger sequencing lead to?
Automated DNA sequencing machines
What is ‘Shotgun Sequencing’?
Where overlapping DNA fragments are cloned and sequenced separately, and then assembled into one long contiguous sequence
What automated DNA sequencing technique did Kary Mullis develop?
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
1983
What are TWO improvments in automated DNA sequencing?
- Identification of new polymerases
- Increasingly modified dNTPs
What project used the newer dideoxy sequencers?
Human Genome Project
(1990-2003)
What techique was developed by Pal Nyren in 1993?
Pyrosequencing
How does Pyrosequencing work?
Relies on light detection based on a chain reaction when Pyrophosphate is released
What THREE enzymes are used in Pyrosequencing?
- DNA polymerase
- ATP sulfurylase
- Firefly luciferase
What additional enzyme was introduced into Pyrosequencing to remove nucleotides that are not incorporated by the DNA polymerase?
Apyrase
What is a major difficulty with Pyrosequencing?
Finding out how many of the same nucleotide there are in a row at a given position
What biotechnology company was Pyrosequencing licensed to?
454 Life Sciences
What did the sequencing machines produced by 454 allow?
The mass parallelisation of sequencing reactions
What process is used in Illumina sequencing?
Bridge amplification
How is sequencing achieved in Illumina sequencing?
Using fluorescent ‘reversible-teminator’ dNTPs
What are TWO Third-Generation DNA sequencing techniques?
- PacBio sequencing
- Nanopore sequencing
What is PacBio sequencing?
Widely used third-generation technology providing a single molecule real time (SMRT) platform
Where does DNA polymerisation occur in PacBio sequencing?
In arrays of microfabricated nanostructures called zero-mode waveguides (ZMWs) which are essentially tiny holes in a metallic film covering a chip
What was α-Hemolysin, a membrane channel protein from Staphylococcus aureus the first nanopore to show?
Detect recognisable ionic current blockades by both RNA and DNA homopolymers
What does Nanopore sequencing allow?
Enables direct, real-time analysis of long DNA or RNA fragments