Comparative Genomics

Background of Comparative Genomics

 

Ever since the first two genomes of free-living organisms were synthesized in 1995, the bacterial influenza genome and the Mycoplasm Genetalia genome, comparative genomics was created. These two organisms are bacteria and were chosen for their ease to decode the DNA. Bacterial influenza was highly abundant to biologists and it was easy to culture and harvest. Mycoplasm Genetalia was chosen for the sequencing because it has the shortest known genome even to this day. Benefits of comparative genomics are vast. Scientists can use knowledge about one organism's DNA to determine ways to culture or kill other organisms such as harmful bacteria. Comparative genomics is also useful to determine how the DNA of organisms has evolved in the past to give us insight as to where it will be in the future and how one can prepare for the new mutations of organisms. Because evolution passes on traits from organism to organism, through comparative genomics we see how organisms are similar in their behavior, structure, purpose, and necessities to survive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To help further understand genomics,

Richard Resnick welcomes you to the Genomic Revolution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tree of Life Project is an endeavor to find the evolutionary path of all possible animals based on their DNA to see how, and in what ways, an organism has evolved all the way from algae, the suspected first life on Earth. With the tree of life, one can see how an animal evolved over time in order to predict evolutions in the future studying environmental tendencies to evolve and many traits that have carried over billions of years. Many believe the most important feature of a completed tree of life is to find similarities and differences between humans and other primates. What makes us different from a chimpanzee? Why do we relate so well to some primates or so very differently from others? Through comparative genomics, these questions and many more can be answered as we delve into a world of DNA, advanced biology, and the path of life from the very first cell that ever formed on the floating rock in space that is Earth.

 

See a timeline of the history of comparative genomics with the button.