Methods and Uses of Genomics and Proteomics Research

During the last quarter of the 20th century (1975-2000), remarkable progress was witnessed in the field of genetics and biotechnology. This was possible mainly due to the development of a variety of techniques including recombinant DNA, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA chips, MALDI TOF MS and automated DNA synthesis and sequencing machines.

These techniques were discussed in several earlier chapters of this book. However, in most of these cases, the progress was made through studies involving individual genes or individual DNA fragments/sequences, rather than the whole genome. This was a serious limitation and did not allow study of many sequences for which polymorphism was not available.

This involved the study of DNA sequences of the whole genome of an organisms and assigning functions to all these sequences. This study of all genes of an organism was possible either at the level of DNA/mRNA or at the level of proteins, the former described as genomics and the latter described as proteomics.

Starting in the year 1995, significant progress was quickly made in this area; which was also described as reverse genetics, since it involved the study of DNA sequence first and then finding out its effect on phenotype rather than starting from the phenotype and then identifying its gene as done in Mendelian forward genetics approach. The methods used for this study of whole genome/proteome will be the subject of discussion. The progress made in this area in animal and plant genomics/proteomics will be respectively.