Genomics

As DNA sequencing technology becomes cheaper and more efficient, the amount of sequencing data available to biologists is exploding. Not only has this allowed us opportunities to compare gene structure in many diverse organisms, but also to study and compare the structure of entire genomes. The sheer volume of information we are now coping with is unprecedented, and new tools and ways of thinking are not only possible, but increasingly necessary. This course will be an exploration of the techniques used to create genomic DNA libraries, to sequence the resulting DNA fragments, and to analyze the sequences of these fragments, at both the gene and genome levels. Students will gain familiarity with the computer programs used to assemble and annotate genomic sequence data as they use them to analyze their own raw data from the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center. This course will be extensively computer-based. We will be working with large (ca. 40-kb) sections of genomic DNA in silico: by the end of the semester, each student will have finished improving the sequence quality of one or two of these 40-kb clones to a publishable level and extensively annotated them, indicating the locations of genes, repeat sequences, and other sequence motifs.

Classes

Classes were held in Memorial 201 (the Mac lab)
Wednesdays and Fridays, 12:45 pm to 3:45 pm

Text

The text required for this course was the 3rd edition of Genomes, by T. A. Brown (Garland Science, 2006).