5 Molecular biology, bioinformatics and basic techniques
R. RAPLEY
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Structure of nucleic acids
5.3 Genes and genome complexity
5.4 Location and packaging of nucleic acids
5.5 Functions of nucleic acids
5.6 The manipulation of nucleic acids – basic tools and techniques
5.7 Isolation and separation of nucleic acids
5.8 Molecular biology and bioinformatics
5.9 Molecular analysis of nucleic acid sequences
5.10 The polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
5.11 Nucleotide sequencing of DNA
5.12 Suggestions for further reading
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) has been heralded as one of the
major landmark events in science. The human genome contains the blueprint for
human development and maintenance and may ultimately provide the means to
understand human cellular and molecular processes in both health and disease.
The genome is the full complement of DNA from an organism and carries all the
information needed to specify the structure of every protein the cell can produce.
The realisation that DNA lies behind all of the cell’s activities led to the development
of what is termed molecular biology. Rather than a discrete area of biosciences,
molecular biology is now accepted as a very important means of understanding and
describing complex biological processes. The development of methods and tech-
niques for studying processes at the molecular level has led to new and powerful ways
of isolating, analysing, manipulating and exploiting nucleic acids. Moreover, to keep
pace with the explosion in biological information the discipline termed bioinformatics
has evolved and provides a vital role in current biosciences. The completion of the
human genome project and numerous other genome projects has allowed the continued
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