Bioinformatics for Bioinformation

Abstract

This chapter introduces concepts in bioinformatics and describes its application in agriculture, healthcare, and biotechnology. The principles and components of bioinformatics are discussed in detail. A sound knowledge on the basic concepts in bioinformatics is the foundation for bioinformation discovery from data. The significance of bioinformation discovery in defining targets for developing drugs is discussed. The issues in a discovery environment under pharmaceutical or biotechnological research and development environment are illustrated using block diagrams. The importance of biological data (sequence, structure, and function) in discovery is highlighted. The chapter also contains sufficient exercise problems for practice.