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2 Genome Databases Today
Pages 21-38

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From page 21...
... Some genes encode proteins. The cells use the DNA sequences in these genes to make the corresponding sequences of amino acids.
From page 22...
... 22 SEEKING SECURITY lyze the production of virtually every other building block of life. Some genes are regulatory and are involved in controlling the activity of other genes.
From page 23...
... , a nonprofit institution in Rockville, Maryland, that has been a major participant in many whole-genome sequencing projects, has built a powerful infrastructure for determining DNA sequences accurately and quickly. In 1995, TIGR scientists published the first complete genome sequence of a freeliving organism, the pathogenic bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, which contains 1.8 million nucleotides (Fleischmann et al., 1995)
From page 24...
... , these three repositories exchange sequence data daily, and thereby each maintain essentially the same set of sequence data as workers around the world submit new data daily. In addition to those three repositories, however, many other sites provide access to genome data.
From page 25...
... Thus, the vast majority of known genome sequences and the tools to analyze them are freely available to anyone in the world who has a computer and Internet access. In addition to gene sequences, biologists have constructed databases that contain many other kinds of data, including protein amino acid sequences, three-dimensional structures, protein functions, organism taxonomy, and protein-protein interactions.
From page 26...
... The largest nonprofit organizations that provide genome information and analytic tools, such as the Sanger Institute and TIGR, have similar policies mandating free, unfettered, and anonymous access. The open-access policies are guided by broader U.S.
From page 27...
... Just as no entrepreneur would start a business without thinking about how to use computer technology, most biological scientists today do not go into a laboratory without incorporating available genome data into their plans. Although access to whole-organism genome sequences has become vital to life-science research, the data do not immediately provide understanding of any organism's natural properties, nor do they furnish a road map for manipulating the organism to give it new properties.
From page 28...
... 28 2 computer analysis Duggan laser from excitation emission permission, 1 with laser Reprinted, reference with dyes target reverse label fluor SOURCE: transcription microarray test hybridize to schema. microarray clones cDNA DNA 2 purification amplification 1999.
From page 29...
... A microarray is generally a set of single-stranded DNA sequences, each representing a single genetic feature bound at known locations onto a suitable surface, often an ordinary microscope slide. Each bound sequence acts as a specific target for the presence of its complementary sequence found in an experimental solution, for example, material extracted from cells or from animal tissue.
From page 30...
... . Classical vaccines are based on the administration of killed or attenuated versions of pathogenic agents and increasingly on the use of purified molecules from cultured bacteria that can elicit a protective immune response when injected into a susceptible person.
From page 31...
... In addition, microarray analysis of bacterial gene activation when the bacteria first encounter host cells can complement the kind of genome analysis described above. Specifically, these experimental approaches allow identification of genes that are not active in cell culture but produce their encoded protein only when the bacteria are actively interacting with an infected host.
From page 32...
... Furthermore, knowledge of the amino acid sequence and the three-dimensional structures of the SARS proteins involved in fusion provided clues for targeted development of more-efficient fusion inhibitors. The sequence data also provided clues about how to design drugs that could interfere with other viral proteins.
From page 33...
... The availability of the SARS sequence has greatly accelerated diagnostic development. One standard method for detecting virus in a clinical sample involves the use of antibodies that can bind to viral proteins.
From page 34...
... Although the dissemination of an infectious agent for either a large-scale or a smallscale bioterrorism attack may be difficult, it is important to acknowledge that relatively unsophisticated dissemination methods are effective. Regulations on access to genome data would not affect the ability of a terrorist to carry out an attack with naturally occurring pathogens.
From page 35...
... . Press reports assert that Al Qaeda is attempting to achieve biological-weapons capability, although of a conventional variety involving naturally occurring pathogens and toxins (Petro and Relman, 2003)
From page 36...
... Large-scale bioterrorism is unlikely, but the possibility of such a rare devastating event dictates that we not dismiss it and that we be vigilant. How Genome Data Might Be Misused One way that governments, groups, or individuals might misuse genome data would be to conduct primary research on pathogen enhancement, starting with hypotheses that they generate themselves from genome analysis and pursuing them experimentally in the laboratory.
From page 37...
... into the mousepox virus increases the virus's virulence; cells infected with the modified virus produce excess IL-4, which "jams" the IL-4 signal and thereby disrupts the normal immune response to infection. As part of a broader effort to explore possible countermeasures to address engineered pox viruses, the St.
From page 38...
... Mousepox is closely related to several viruses that can cause disease in humans, including viruses that cause smallpox, cowpox, and monkeypox. It would not be difficult for a skilled scientist or technician to use the published results to carry out an analogous genetic manipulation of one of those viruses; the effect of the manipulation of the other pox viruses on virulence and on the ability to overcome vaccine in these is not known.


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