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Preface
quality and safety, and problems with pathogens. The chapter also looks at the evaluation of stock diversity and the potential for the use of genomic data in selection
programs. Finally, the chapter discusses the use of genomic methods to study and
monitor natural fish and shellfish populations and to understand interactions within
their ecosystems.
The next chapter looks at the rapidly growing field of marine biotechnology.
The chapter highlights the very broad spectrum of organisms that can be found in
the seas in terms of phylogenetic diversity and discusses how both whole genome
sequencing and large-scale metagenomics projects are rapidly expanding the genetic
resources available for biotechnological exploitation of this part of the planet. As in
several other domains, marine biotechnology has not developed to the same extent as
its terrestrial counterpart, probably because of the difficulty in accessing the marine
environment. The advent of genomic methodologies is changing this situation and
exciting developments are expected in this domain in the coming years. The chapter describes the genomic resources that are available and provides examples of
biotechnological products and processes that have been derived from a broad range
of organisms including viruses, archaea, bacteria, algae, fungi and marine animals.
As mentioned above, the final chapter addresses some of the practical aspects
of marine genomics. It looks at the different methods currently available for
DNA sequencing and discusses the problem of data management. The latter has
become an increasingly important consideration as the amount of data delivered
by new sequencing technologies has expanded impressively over recent years.
Bioinformatic processing of genomic data is then discussed including aspects such
as EST clustering, genome assembly, gene prediction, assignment of gene functions and whole genome annotation. The chapter also provides an overview of
transcriptome data analysis in particular those based on microarray hybridization
technology.
Preface
quality and safety, and problems with pathogens. The chapter also looks at the evaluation of stock diversity and the potential for the use of genomic data in selection
programs. Finally, the chapter discusses the use of genomic methods to study and
monitor natural fish and shellfish populations and to understand interactions within
their ecosystems.
The next chapter looks at the rapidly growing field of marine biotechnology.
The chapter highlights the very broad spectrum of organisms that can be found in
the seas in terms of phylogenetic diversity and discusses how both whole genome
sequencing and large-scale metagenomics projects are rapidly expanding the genetic
resources available for biotechnological exploitation of this part of the planet. As in
several other domains, marine biotechnology has not developed to the same extent as
its terrestrial counterpart, probably because of the difficulty in accessing the marine
environment. The advent of genomic methodologies is changing this situation and
exciting developments are expected in this domain in the coming years. The chapter describes the genomic resources that are available and provides examples of
biotechnological products and processes that have been derived from a broad range
of organisms including viruses, archaea, bacteria, algae, fungi and marine animals.
As mentioned above, the final chapter addresses some of the practical aspects
of marine genomics. It looks at the different methods currently available for
DNA sequencing and discusses the problem of data management. The latter has
become an increasingly important consideration as the amount of data delivered
by new sequencing technologies has expanded impressively over recent years.
Bioinformatic processing of genomic data is then discussed including aspects such
as EST clustering, genome assembly, gene prediction, assignment of gene functions and whole genome annotation. The chapter also provides an overview of
transcriptome data analysis in particular those based on microarray hybridization
technology.