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Structural bioinformatics is the branch of bioinformatics that is related to the analysis and prediction of the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules such as proteins, RNA, and DNA. It deals with generalizations about macromolecular 3D structures such as comparisons of overall folds and local motifs, principles of molecular ...
Biological data has also been difficult to define, as bioinformatics is a wide-encompassing field. Further, the question of what constitutes as being a living organism has been contentious, as "alive" represents a nebulous term that encompasses molecular evolution, biological modeling, biophysics, and systems biology.
[1] While each field is distinct, there may be significant overlap at their interface, [1] so much so that to many, bioinformatics and computational biology are terms that are used interchangeably. The terms computational biology and evolutionary computation have a similar name, but are not to be confused. Unlike computational biology ...
In the genomic branch of bioinformatics, homology is used to predict the function of a gene: if the sequence of gene A, whose function is known, is homologous to the sequence of gene B, whose function is unknown, one could infer that B may share A's function. In structural bioinformatics, homology is used to determine which parts of a protein ...
The second thing is evolutionary modification, or the accumulation of hereditary genetic and/or structural changes along these branches. The term "branch length" typically refers to the number of these changes. If the "branch lengths" of the tree measure these changes, we also call the tree a phylogram.
Biotechnology – new and sometimes controversial branch of biology that studies the manipulation of living matter, including genetic modification and synthetic biology. Bioinformatics – use of information technology for the study, collection, and storage of genomic and other biological data.
Relational database concepts of computer science and Information retrieval concepts of digital libraries are important for understanding biological databases. Biological database design, development, and long-term management is a core area of the discipline of bioinformatics. [3]
Bioinformatics and computational biology are interdisciplinary fields of research, development and application of algorithms, computational and statistical methods for management and analysis of biological data, and for solving basic biological problems.