Bioinformatics

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Bioinformatics is a field of study which focuses on the analysis of large amounts of biological data. The primary focus is the analysis and interpretation of complex biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins. Because these molecules tend to be very complex, they must be analyzed using computers.

Molecular biologists often use laboratory-based experiments to analyze a molecule of biological interest. Ususally, these are molecules of DNA or protein. Both DNA and protein molecules are chains of smaller molecules attached to each other to build a large string-like molecule. Proteins are the 'machinery' of biology - they do everything from carrying oxygen through the blood (an example of this is Hemoglobin) to movement (an example of this is actin and myosin, which are found in muscle fibers). DNA is the primary data source of life. Cells use DNA molecules to build proteins, which then perform most biological processes.

[edit] Biology of bioinformatics

A molecule of DNA is composed of units called nucleic acids. These nuceic acids (there are four distinct nucleic acids in DNA) are assembled and stored in the nucleus of a cell. The nucleus is basically a storage house of data for the cell. Anything a cell could possibly want, it can build, using the information stored in its DNA. When a cell wants to build a protein, it finds the appropriate section of DNA, unravels it, and decodes it. This decoding process is how proteins are built.

Proteins are composed of units called amino acids. There are twenty amino acids that combine to form most proteins. Proteins are the 'machinery' of a cell. They can perform many functions, like transportation, structural support, movement, metabolism, etc.

A basic principle of bioinformatics is that everything about these molecules can be inferred from the sequence of building blocks (nucleic acids or amino acids) from which the molecule is composed. For example: In theory, the structure of a protein (its shape) can be determined by analyzing the amino acids that make up the protein. This structure can often be used to deduce its function.

[edit] Computational side of bioinformatics

Chemists have developed methods for understanding the shape and behavior of small molecules, using mathematical analysis. They might use computers (or even just a pencil and paper) to study these molecules.

As biochemists attempt to study larger and larger molecules, they have found that these methods are no longer feasable. It would simply take too much time to determine the structure of a large molecule. Using the classical methods, and a very fast computer (to perform the mathematics), it would take years, centuries, or even millennia to find the exact structure of a very large protein. Because of this, researchers have developed new computational methods to approximate the structure (or other properties) of a molecule in a much more reasonable amount of time. Protein structure analysis is a very important part of bioinformatics, but it does not encompass the field. There are other many studies being done in bioinformatics. Some of the questions that are addressed by these studies follow:

How does a particular protein bind to another?

Which proteins will be built given a specific strand of DNA?

How can DNA analysis predict genetic disorders and diseases?

How has a biological process or structure changed through evolution?

What diseases is a person especially vulnerable to, given their genetics?

All of these questions can be at least partially answered using an extensive analysis of scientific data with modern bioinformatics algorithms.