Biology Stack Exchange
Biology Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [genomics]

The study of genomes, the DNA complement of organisms.

Genomics can be thought of as a set of high-throughput techniques for collecting and analyzing DNA sequences and related information. Often, genomic techniques are employed to study questions relevant to genetics or cell biology.

Questions that can have this tag:

  • Questions related to genome sequencing and assembly (See also )
  • Questions related to variation in genomes (SNPs, CNVs)
  • Questions related to genome-wide association studies (GWAS)
  • Questions related to comparisons of genomes, e.g. its organization or function, between different organisms.
253 questions
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Why are sushi proteins called "sushi"? What are the origins of this name?

Does anybody know why complement control proteins (also short consensus repeats) are called "sushi" proteins? Is there any special reason for their name?
Vii Z.
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Why was it so hard to decode the corn genome?

My teachers growing up told me it was impossible to decode the maize genome. But yet its been done. Why was decoding the genome so significant, and what made it so difficult?
Gabriel Fair
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Why did high A+T content create problems for the Plasmodium falciparum genome project?

The main paper for the Plasmodium palciparum genome project (Gardner et al., 2002) repeatedly mentioned that the unusually high A+T content (~80%) of the genome caused problems. For example they imply that it prevented them using a clone-by-clone…
Rik Smith-Unna
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Are there differences in DNA between humans of today and humans from 2000 years ago?

Are there any significant differences in our genome compared to the genes of our ancestors from 1000-2000 years ago? And if there are significant differences, do they result in significant differences in phenotypic traits?
Rox
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14
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Paralogous genes in genome-wide association studies?

Has anybody tested if paralogous genes are over-represented among the genes identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS)? For example, if a GWAS study finds 200 genes associated to the disease/trait, and a number X of those can be classified…
yahoo301503
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Percentage of genome devoted to regulating gene expression

Recently I've been studying the p53 tumor suppressor gene as a model for regulation of gene expression. It's amazing how many different post-translational modifications are known to regulate p53 activity, and how many different factors are involved…
Daniel Standage
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Sequencing the genomes of polyploid organisms

I've done some transcriptomics work in the past with a polyploid organism, and this presented some unique challenges in the data processing and analysis. Since then, I have been brainstorming about the technical challenges one may face when…
Daniel Standage
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What distinguishes "coding" from "noncoding" DNA?

I've been reading a bit about "junk DNA" and how much of our genome consists of this "non coding DNA" in comparison to "coding DNA". I'm just an interested layperson but I thought all combinations of three base pairs encoded one amino acid, with…
hippietrail
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What are the limitations to current nucleotide sequencing technologies?

Using the Illumina platform, it is cheap and (relatively) easy to sequence huge amounts of DNA or RNA. There are various other platforms out there (Roche/454, SOLiD, PacBio, Ion Torrent) each with their own distinct advantages, but Illumina seems to…
Daniel Standage
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Are the number of base pairs in a given chromosome same between different individuals?

This is a basic question but I couldn't find an answer through a web search; hopefully this is the right place to ask. Is the number of base pairs in a particular chromosome the same in all individuals? For example if I take an X-chromosome from two…
unknown
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Shortest strings not present in the human genome

What length are the shortest strings of DNA not present in any known person's genome, and what are they? And is there a database online by which I could find this out?
Francis Wolfe
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What can you tell about a person, having only their whole genome as information?

Well, the question is in the title, no explanation need.
fragant1996
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Why did scientists think humans had 100,000 genes (before the Human Genome Project)?

One of the major results of the Human Genome Project (HGP) was that humans have far fewer separate genes than previously thought. From a 2004 article about the HGP: Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute…
tel
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Can forensic DNA analysis be used to generate a visual approximation of a suspect?

In light of the current US supreme court case, I'm curious if enough information can be teased out of a DNA sample to get a "reasonable" approximation of the suspect (never mind the legality). I realize the term reasonable is subjective, so…
single_digit
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What is the difference between SOLiD, 454, and Illumina next-gen sequencing?

I've started teaching myself about next-generation sequencing in preparation for a new job, and I'm wondering what the main differences are between the 454, SOLiD, and Illumina/Solexa machines, in terms of sample/library preparation and chemistry.…
MattDMo
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