Genomics Research

In all higher animals (eukaryotes) including humans, the humans, the genetic information is encoded in DNA molecules found either in the chromosomes within the nucleus or in the mitochondria, which are generally found in hundreds within a cell. The DNA found within the nucleus constitutes the nuclear genome and that found within a single circular or linear DNA molecule within a mitochondrion (number of DNA molecules within a mitochondrion may vary from 1 to 6) constitutes the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). In green plants, DNA is also known to be present in chloroplast and is described as chloroplast genome (CpDNA).

Similarly, for rice (Oryza sativa) genome also, the rough drafts have already been produced by two private compaines, and complete sequence should become available by the year 2003. These sequence data of several eukaryotic nuclear genomes are being looked upon as an important resource for identification, discovery and isolation of important genes. The data will also be used for a variety of other applications relevant to animal, plant and microbial biotechnology. Keeping in view the significance of whole genome sequencing in the field of biology in general and biotechnology in particular, the methods involved in working out genome sequences and those used for assigning meaning to these sequences will be briefly discussed in this section