Explain why is gene annotation important in modern biology.

Explain why is gene annotation important in modern biology.

2. Background on RNAseq, and what is its advantage and why it is useful for gene annotation. Provide specific applications used in journal articles.

a) Some background information just for reference: Most modern researchers use RNAseq to characterize global patterns of gene expression. The advantage is that it extracts RNA from any organism, and you can target eukaryotic gene expression by enriching for RNA that has a poly-A tail. Another advantage is that the bioinformatic analysis can build a de novo reference, meaning even if there is no sequenced genome for a particular organism.

3. Describe Gene Ontology (GO) database and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database and how they can help with the gene annotation. How can you determine a gene name/general function and how can you determine what the function of that gene might be in a model organism? How well do you think these functions can translate to a non-model organism? Which database gives you more useful information?