The genetic material of any organism is known as its Genome and it is comprised of DNA. It includes both coding and non-coding DNA, even the mitochondrial DNA is part of its genome. The study of genome is known as Genomics.
The Genome contains all the information of organism that how will it develop, majority of the phenotype e.g. height, color etc. In human genome is in the form of 23 chromosomes.
Genome is compromised of complete set of all DNA including genes, regulatory sequences and non-coding DNA sequences. In simple words genome is complete set of information needed to build and maintain an organism. Each cell of living organism contains genome. Human genome composed of more than 3 billion DNA base-pairs. Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of science focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes.
In contrast to genetics; which is the study of individual genes and their roles in inheritance, genomics focuses on the collective characterization and quantification of genes. It also involves the sequencing and analysis of genome using high throughput sequencing and bioinformatics to assemble and analyze the function and structure of entire genomes. It also involves the study of intragenomic processes such as epistasis, heterosis and pleiotropy as well as the interactions between loci and alleles within the genome.
Advances in the field of genomics are reforming the conventional therapeutic methods towards more developed and personalized medicine. Using next generation sequencing techniques and targeted sequencing panels, we are able to identify specific mutations in genes, translocation of genes and many other major genomic aberrations. Personalized medicine and vaccinations are now under investigation based on these genomic aberrations.
Genetic testing is now becoming very common in clinical settings and more than 1600 different genetic tests are being performed commercially. Many large cancer centers have now targeted sequencing panels for cancer patients that helps in diagnosis and treatment e.g. BRCA gene mutations, HER2 positive patients etc. Now its not far when genomic analysis will be a routine practice in all major clinical settings. Genomic analysis needs a lot of professional skills which I am trying to share using BioinfoGuide.com, keep on visiting us routinely.