Bioinformatics Basics

Author: Sun Xiaolu, Zu Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Bioinformatics is an emerging interdisciplinary field. In this field, biologists and computer scientists jointly study the acquisition, management, analysis, and utilization of biological molecular information. Bioinformatics uses computers and networks as tools, employing theories, methods, and techniques from mathematics and information science to study biological macromolecules and the organizational principles of biological molecular information. This book focuses on genomics and post-genomics research, elaborating on the methods, techniques, resources, and core algorithms of bioinformatics, as well as introducing the applications of various informatics methods and techniques in bioinformatics. The book first briefly explains the research objects and main research contents of bioinformatics; then introduces basic sequence comparison algorithms and various bioinformatics data resources and major databases; next, it presents genome information analysis, molecular phylogenetic analysis, and protein structure prediction in a thematic format; finally, it covers gene expression data analysis. To facilitate computer and mathematical researchers in entering the field of bioinformatics research, the book also specially introduces the fundamental molecular biology knowledge related to bioinformatics. This book can serve as a textbook for upper-level undergraduate or graduate students in bioinformatics courses, as well as a reference for life science professionals and computer application personnel.