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Title
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Computational Epigenetics: the new scientific paradigm |
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Authors
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Shen Jean Lim1, Tin Wee Tan1, Joo Chuan Tong1,2,* | |
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Affiliation
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1Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597;2Data Mining Department, Institute for Infocomm Research, 1 Fusionopolis Way, #21-01, Connexis, South Tower, Singapore 138632
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Article Type
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Current Trends | |
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Date
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Received December 15, 2009; Revised January 13, 2009; Accepted January 21, 2009; Published January 23, 2010
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Abstract |
Epigenetics has recently emerged as a critical field for studying how non-gene factors can influence the traits and functions of an organism. At the core of this new wave of research is the use of computational tools that play critical roles not only in directing the selection of key experiments, but also in formulating new testable hypotheses through detailed analysis of complex genomic information that is not achievable using traditional approaches alone. Epigenomics, which combines traditional genomics with computer science, mathematics, chemistry, biochemistry and proteomics for the large-scale analysis of heritable changes in phenotype, gene function or gene expression that are not dependent on gene sequence, offers new opportunities to further our understanding of transcriptional regulation, nuclear organization, development and disease. This article examines existing computational strategies for the study of epigenetic factors. The most important databases and bioinformatic tools in this rapidly growing field have been reviewed.
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Keywords |
epigenetic informatics, epigenetics, epigenomics, bioinformatics | |
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Citation
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Lim et al., Bioinformation, 4 (7) 331-337 (2010) | |
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Edited by
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P. Kangueane
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ISSN
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0973-2063
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Publisher
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License
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This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. |