Exploring Bioinformatics / Lee Mercado

Contents: 1. Introduction^. Introduction to Biological Databases, 3. Pairwise Sequence Alignment, 4. Database Similarity Searching, 5. Multiple Sequence Alignment, 6. Profiles and Hidden Markov Models, 7. Protein Motifs and Domain Prediction, 8. Gene Prediction, 9. Promoter and Regulatory Element Prediction, 10. Phylogenetics Basics, 11. Phylogenetic Tree Construction Methods and Programs, 12. Protein Structure Basics, 13. Protein Structure Visualization, Comparison and Classification, 14. Protein Secondary Structure Prediction, 15. Protein Tertiary Structure Prediction, 16. RNA Structure Prediction, 17. Genome Mapping, Assembly and Comparison, 18. Functional Genomics, 19. Proteomics, 20. Current Techniques for Bioinformatics, 21. Future Techniques for Bioinformatics.

Exploring Bioinformatics is a concise yet comprehensive textbook of bioinformatics that provides a broad introduction to the entire field. Written specifically for a life science audience, the basics of bioinformatics are explained, followed by discussions of the state-of-the-art computational tools available to solve biological research problems. All key areas of bioinformatics are covered including biological databases, sequence alignment, gene and promoter prediction, molecular phylogenetics, structural bioinformatics, genomics, and proteomics. The book emphasizes how computational methods work and compares the strengths and weaknesses of different methods. This balanced yet easily accessible text will be invaluable to students who do not have sophisticated computational backgrounds. Technical details of computational algorithms are explained with a minimum use of mathematical formulas; graphical illustrations are used in their place to aid understanding. The effective synthesis of existing literature as well as in-depth and up-to-date coverage of all key topics in bioinformatics make this an ideal text book for all bioinformatics courses taken by life science students and for researchers wishing to develop their knowledge of bioinformatics to facilitate their own research.