Suitable for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates, Understanding
Bioinformatics provides a definitive guide to this vibrant and evolving
discipline. The book takes a conceptual approach. It guides the reader
from first principles through to an understanding of the computational
techniques and the key algorithms. Understanding Bioinformatics is an
invaluable companion for students from their first encounter with the
subject through to more advanced studies.
The book is divided into seven parts, with the opening part introducing
the basics of nucleic acids, proteins and databases. Subsequent parts
are divided into 'Applications' and 'Theory' Chapters, allowing readers
to focus their attention effectively. In each section, the Applications
Chapter provides a fast and straightforward route to understanding the
main concepts and 'getting started'. Each of these is then followed by
Theory Chapters which give greater detail and present the underlying
mathematics. In Part 2, Sequence Alignments, the Applications Chapter
shows the reader how to get started on producing and analyzing sequence
alignments, and using sequences for database searching, while the next
two chapters look closely at the more advanced techniques and the
mathematical algorithms involved. Part 3 covers evolutionary processes
and shows how bioinformatics can be used to help build phylogenetic
trees. Part 4 looks at the characteristics of whole genomes. In Parts 5
and 6 the focus turns to secondary and tertiary structure - predicting
structural conformation and analysing structure-function relationships.
The last part surveys methods of analyzing data from a set of genes or
proteins of an organism and is rounded off with an overview of systems
biology.
The writing style of Understanding Bioinformatics is notable for its
clarity, while the extensive, full-color artwork has been designed to
present the key concepts with simplicity and consistency. Each chapter
uses mind-maps and flow diagrams to give an overview of the conceptual
links within each topic.
