Biological and computational annotation of the Drosophila Genome Sequence

ABSTRACT

The nucleotide sequence of the Drosophila melanogaster genome is now available and efforts are ongoing to improve its accuracy and annotation. The value of these sequence data will be enormously enhanced if we can provide for each gene information on: (1) the structure and expression pattern of its transcripts; (2) the mechanisms and logic used to control their expression; and (3) the functions of their protein products. My presentation will be directed toward the challenges of obtaining and interpreting such information for the fruit fly. Gene sequence and expression pattern databases will be extremely powerful tools. However, the function of a protein in a multicellular organism depends on context and will almost certainly need to be determined by experimental analysis. Collection of the required large datasets will be difficult and neither the intellectual framework nor experimental tools for analyzing complex gene networks are currently in place. Nevertheless, there is reason for cautious optimism that the complete genomic sequence of organisms will enable the necessary global approaches to study gene function and regulation. The conservation of gene structure and function during evolution will allow for the linking and sharing of information garnered in different experimental systems. But what data should be collected and how to interpret these data are much less clear. I will describe recent attempts by the Berkeley Drosophila Genome project to address some of these issues.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.3 LIFE AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
      Subjects: Biology and genetics