Bioinformatics is the branch of science in which we use computer tools and algorithms to analyze biological data. Bioinformatics has its importance in the management and collection of biological data. Bioinformatics is an integrated interdisciplinary field it includes various subjects such as math, chemistry, genomics, proteomics, etc. Bioinformatics includes research applications in genomics data and proteomics data analysis. Such as molecular docking, molecular modeling, gene/protein sequencing database development, and management.
Analysis of the human genome and genome sequencing with the help of bioinformatics is very huge and great success in the field of bioinformatics. There are a lot of online data libraries of bioinformatics are available from where we can access the data anytime anywhere in the world. Such as NCBI (National center for biotechnology information), DDBJ (DNA data bank of japan), Uniprot (protein database).
In the previous article, we have studied the databases, their types, and the Importance of databases in data analysis and storing.
History:
The Bioinformatics term was coined by Ben Hesper and Paulien Hogweg (1970). Margaret Oakley Dayhoff is known as the mother and father of bioinformatics.
Role of bioinformatics in data analysis
Databases:
Bioinformatics has a huge amount of data stored in databases which is available free for everyone. This data contains very helpful information that can help researchers in their study and research. NCBI is one of the most important composite databases in bioinformatics.
We have already discussed databases click here to read
Bioinformatic tools and algorithms
These are the computer programs and algorithms available for online and offline use. These applications are very useful in finding or analyzing the data, drug discovery, gene/protein modeling, finding information of a sequence(protein or nucleotide)
Examples:
- Autodock, IGemdock, PyRx, Beta dock, Glide, Gold, (docking tools used in drug discovery, drug repurposing)
- Clustal W, Clustal Omega, BLAST (finding/comparing the protein/nucleotide sequence)
- ADME servers (For predicting the Adsorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion)
There are a variety of tools available for researchers
Structural bioinformatics
Structural bioinformatics includes folding, modeling, and design of a protein/nucleotide
Protein data bank RSCB is the database that contains information about the 3D structure of a protein or nucleotide. With the help of bioinformatics, we can precinct homologous proteins their interaction sites, and much other information.
Examples:
- I-TASSER (an online service used for protein str. and functions predictions)
- CASTp (computed atlas of surface topography of proteins)
There are some other tools used in the visualization of the structures and interactions.
- PyMOL, Discovery studio, Chimera, Raswin (3D visualization tool)
Future prospective
Bioinformatics becomes an essential scientific field in life sciences and researchers. Bioinformatics has many applications in a different field because it is an interdisciplinary field. Bioinformatics has its importance in:
Sequence mapping, genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, gene prediction, and study the functioning, phylogenetic analysis, database creation, molecular modeling.
References
- 1. Abdurakhmonov, I. Y. (2016). Bioinformatics: basics, development, and future. InTech.
- 2.Bayat, A. (2002). Bioinformatics. (Science, Medicine, and the Future). British Medical Journal, 324(7344), 1018-1023.