CHAPTER 2 - Informatics and Automation Used in Physical Mapping of the Genome

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the goals and strategies of genome mapping and sequencing where the use of automation, advanced robotic instrumentation, and informatics is likely to have a major impact. The primary goal of genome science is the analysis and characterization of entire genomes of complex organisms, including humans, with the eventual aim of uncovering basic mechanisms of genome expression, modification, and evolution. Significant new developments in genome mapping in the next few years will include the increasing use of automation and advanced robotic instrumentation for processing large numbers of samples and the development of more sophisticated computational techniques and tools for data entry, archiving, and processing of the vast amount of information resulting from genome mapping and sequencing. Several strategies have been proposed and used for the analysis of portions of the human genome and the genomes of model organisms. An important issue in the genome mapping project is the collection and analysis of the results of the experiments. The Genome Notebook was designed to keep track of all experimental results of a mapping project. Several requirements of the Genome Notebook are that the data be entered quickly easily, and accurately.