All the genes of an organism together form the genome. The study of genomes, called genomics, has dramatically increased our knowledge of the living world.
To give an example of the quantity of information a genome can represent, the sequencing of the human genome (3 billion bases) allowed scientists to estimate the total number of genes in the human genome: about 30,000. In order to facilitate the understanding of this information, scientists use special computer programs, see bioinformatics.
A lot is expected from genomics as a means to identifying genes and understanding their functions which may help develop drugs to cure diseases or to produce substances that were impossible to make before.
Different approaches of genomics are being used for different purposes, to know more about these click on the following links:
Structural genomics also exist and is defined by the access to all the structures of the proteins of the genome. This great quantity of data can be generated thanks to genomics and protein crystallisation and diffraction techniques.
Contributed by Stephanie Ries
