Genomics and Bioinformatics An Introduction to Programming Tools for Life Scientists

With the arrival of genomics and genome sequencing projects, biology has been transformed into an incredibly data-rich science. The vast amount of information generated has made computational analysis critical and has increased demand for skilled bioinformaticians. Designed for biologists without previous programming experience, this textbook provides a hands-on introduction to Unix, Perl and other tools used in sequence bioinformatics. Relevant biological topics are used throughout the book and are combined with practical bioinformatics examples, leading students through the process from biological problem to computational solution. All of the Perl scripts, sequence and database files used in the book are available for download at the accompanying website, allowing the reader to easily follow each example using their own computer. Programming examples are kept at an introductory level, avoiding complex mathematics that students often find daunting. The book demonstrates that even simple programs can provide powerful solutions to many complex bioinformatics problems.

Preface; Acknowledgements; Design and conventions of this book; 1. Introduction - working with the molecules of life in the computer; 2. Gene technology - cutting DNA; 3. Gene technology - knocking genes down; 4. Gene technology - amplifying DNA; 5. Human disease - when DNA sequences are toxic; 6. Human disease - iron imbalance and the iron responsive element; 7. Human disease - cancer as a result of aberrant proteins; 8. Evolution - what makes us human?; 9. Evolution - resolving a criminal case; 10. Evolution - the sad case of the Tasmanian tiger; 11. A function to every gene - termites, metagenomics and learning about the function of a sequence; 12. A function to every gene - royal blood and order in the sequence universe; 13. A function to every gene - a slimy molecule; 14. Information resources - learning about flu viruses; 15. Finding genes - going ashore at CpG islands; 16. Finding genes - in the world of snurps; 17. Finding genes - hunting for the distant RNA relatives; 18. Personal genomes - the differences between you and me; 19. Personal genomes - what's in my genome?; 20. Personal genomes - details of family genetics; Appendix I. Brief Unix reference; Appendix II. A selection of biological sequence analysis software; Appendix III. Short Perl reference; Appendix IV. Brief introduction to R; Index.

Tore Samuelsson is a Professor in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has been active in bioinformatics research for more than fifteen years and has over ten years' experience of teaching in the field, including the development of web resources for molecular biology and bioinformatics education.