Functional Genomics

Functional genomics deals with genes, function and their interactions. It is a unit of inheritance, gene regulation, disease-oriented mutation, proteomics and polymorphism. High-throughput techniques are frequently used to carry out research in this field, generating an extensive amount of data. The focus of bioinformatics, in this area, is to expand the horizon towards the understanding of fundamental mechanisms, structural analysis, biochemical pathways and its application towards diseases. In this article, the various subdomains of functional genomics [Genetic interaction mapping, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), Gene regulation, Microarray Data Analysis, Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE), Mutations, miRNAs/Transposons and Epigenomics] and the utility of pertinent bioinformatics resources have been investigated. A variety of computational tools, algorithms and databases have been implicated in the study of different states of normal genes, their regulation/interactions/mutations, non-coding RNAs and genetic abnormalities. Computational methods can substantially accelerate the experimental endeavors, thereby facilitating the process of delving deeper into the structural, functional, regulatory, metabolic and disease-related aspects of functional genomics.