What is Genomics?
The study of the complete set of DNA (including all of its genes) in a person or other organism. Almost every cell in a person’s body contains a complete copy of the genome. The genome contains all the information needed for a person to develop and grow. Studying the genome may help researchers understand how genes interact with each other and with the environment and how certain diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, form. This may lead to new ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease.
Sequencing simply means determining the exact order of the bases in a strand of DNA. Because bases exist as pairs, and the identity of one of the bases in the pair determines the other member of the pair, researchers do not have to report both bases of the pair.
In the most common type of sequencing used today, called sequencing by synthesis, DNA polymerase (the enzyme in cells that synthesizes DNA) is used to generate a new strand of DNA from a strand of interest. In the sequencing reaction, the enzyme incorporates into the new DNA strand individual nucleotides that have been chemically tagged with a fluorescent label. As this happens, the nucleotide is excited by a light source, and a fluorescent signal is emitted and detected. The signal is different depending on which of the four nucleotides was incorporated. This method can generate 'reads' of 125 nucleotides in a row and billions of reads at a time.
To assemble the sequence of all the bases in a large piece of DNA such as a gene, researchers need to read the sequence of overlapping segments. This allows the longer sequence to be assembled from shorter pieces, somewhat like putting together a linear jigsaw puzzle. In this process, each base has to be read not just once, but at least several times in the overlapping segments to ensure accuracy.
Researchers can use DNA sequencing to search for genetic variations and/or mutations that may play a role in the development or progression of a disease. The disease-causing change may be as small as the substitution, deletion, or addition of a single base pair or as large as a deletion of thousands of bases. READ MORE...
