10 Compare and Contrast Essay Topics on Computational Genomics

Topics and ideas
Posted on March 14, 2017

A man has always been plagued with questions about inherited traits, diseases and biological phenomena before the study of sciences was introduced in Ancient Egypt. In more recent times, questions such as how the Zika virus developed, the origins of Ebola and tracing the human species to the earliest roots have dominated among the scientific discussions. And now, answering these questions and finding scientific direction in the midst of chaos has been made easy by the leaps and bounds made in the field of computational genomics. Which leads us to the question that can be discussed in college compare and contrast essays; what is computational genomics? There are so many compare and contrast essay topics for college students you can cover.

Before writing a compare and contrast essay on the topic of computational genomics, it is essential to understand its definition and scientific application. Therefore, this article will focus on covering computational genomics using facts, which can also be applied in your compare and contrast essay writing task. Computational genomics, otherwise known as computational genetics, stands for the usage of computational and statistical analysis for dissevering biology from genome sequences and other related data. This data in combination with statistical approaches allows scientists to understand the function of genes and how species’ DNA controls its entire population.

10 Important Facts on Computational Genomics for a Compare and Contrast Essay

  1. There are just two basic types of cells. Basic biology provides the foundation for the study of genetics and in terms of cell biology, the two types of basic cell types are: the eukaryotic cell, which has no nuclei and the prokaryotic cell, which consists of nuclei. In your compare and contrast essay, discuss the fact that both cell types are fundamentally similar in terms of molecular machinery, eukaryotic cells are complex multicellular organisms like fungi, while prokaryotic cells are unicellular organisms such as bacteria.
  2. Cells are storage devices for genetic information. The genetic material used by cells is formed by molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These molecules have sequential structure, which makes them function just like the average computer storage device. The mechanism for reading this information is one of the core components of all living things and is highly similar in all types of cells. This mechanism is formed by a complex of enzymes, specified by the particular instructions it must read. This is a very interesting issue for a compare and contrast essay.
  3. Gregor Mendel is credited with starting the computation genomics quest to understand plant and animal biology. The first major step in the field of genomics was taken by Gregor Mendel in 1859, when he discovered how genetic information is stored. The second major step was made in New York, when Oswald Avery and a group of biologists discovered that nucleic acid contains these sequences of information. For sure, this point will help your compare and contrast essay stand out from the crowd.
  4. A Genome is formed in chromosomes by DNA. If you want to make your compare and contrast essay hooking, maintain such an issue. A genome is the set of all DNA contained in a cell and this genome is formed by one or multiple stretches of DNA coupled together in a chromosome. Chromosomes can be linear or circular, but one thing remains constant – when a cell divides, chromosomes are replicated in exactly the same structure as found in their parent cell.
  5. The first DNA sequence was accomplished in 1977. The first DNA sequencing task was set in 1977 but the first complete DNA sequence for an organism was encoded in 1995, and it was the DNA of the Haemophilus Influenza bacterium. The first animal to have its genome completely sequenced was a fruit fly. It was done by Celera Genomics in 2000. The first crop plant to have its DNA sequenced is rice; it happened in 2004. In 2002, the mouse became the first mammal to have its genome sequenced completely by scientists. Knowing the history can be very interesting, even if you are working on a college compare and contrast essay.
  6. James Watson is the first human to have his genome sequenced. The 21st century saw an increased interest to the computational genomics and the race to sequence the human DNA intensified in 2000. The first successful step was completing the haplotype map of the human genome in 2005. The second milestone was the completed haploid genomic sequencing of James Watson’s genome in 2007. The first diploid human genome to be sequenced was that of Craig Venter in 2007. In your paper, you can choose diverse things to compare and contrast – finding some differences and similarities.
  7. The first synthetic genome was recreated in 2008. The Craig Venter group that successfully sequenced the first human diploid genome also succeeded in the complete chemical synthesizing, assembly and cloning of the Mycoplasma Genitalium bacteria’s genome. This was a key step towards creating a complete organism. Consequently, Craig Venter was named among the Time-100 most influential persons on earth. Compare and contrast his ideas to others’.
  8. Cancer genomes were analyzed in 2009. In 2009, the field of computational genomics recorded a milestone in understanding and managing debilitating diseases with the complete analysis of the cancer genome. This comprehensive analysis successfully analyzed the genomes of lung cancer and malignant melanoma. This success led to the launch of the UK10K program which intends to computationally compare the genomes of 4,000 healthy individuals against 6,000 sick individuals. This issue can also be very interesting for a compare and contrast essay.
  9. A genome browser is a place where you can search for completely analyzed sequences exits. With the hope of building an organized platform for the computational genomics community, the UCSC genome browser was built. It allows reputable sources to submit established genomic sequence results and provides the public with access to check these analyses. The browser has the URL www.genome.ucsc.edu. This platform was built by the University of California, Santa Cruz. This is one more interesting idea for your compare and contrast essay.
  10. Mathematics plays a key role in the field of computational genomics. Pursuing a profession in computational genomics is an admirable venture, which requires the student to have a high level of mathematical and statistical knowledge to succeed. Scientist in this field constantly makes use of data analytics software applications such as Matlab to compute information. This means some love to technical applications and data analytics is recommended.

Here we come to the end of some important facts we believe will serve you in good stead if you write a compare and contrast essay on computational genomics is given to you as an assignment. These facts are just a tip of the iceberg as other complimentary articles covering the best compare and contrast essay topics for college students as well as topics for middle school or high school students such as tips for a good compare and contrast essay guide on computational genomics coupled with 20 easy compare and contrast topics on computational genomics will make writing excellently on this subject an easy task.

Make sure, there are so many issues that we can dwell upon in compare and contrast essays. You can compare two subjects in any sphere. For example, Facebook vs. Twitter paying attention to the differences between these two social networks. You can compare school students, for example, a 6th grade vs. 3d grade student. You can compare film characters, for example ‘Harry Potter’ actors. Furthermore, you can also compare school vs. college education as well as academic writing assignments – differences between the two types of academic paper. Here are some other ideas:

  • Books vs. films
  • Football vs. basketball
  • Online vs. real life friends
  • Rock vs. pop music
  • Driving a car vs. driving a bus
  • E Books vs. paper books
  • American vs. British English
  • Horror films vs. comedies (you can even compare the particular pictures)
  • US winter vs. Ukrainian winter, etc.

All you need is your imagination and the interest in the issue you are discussing. Good luck!

References:
Sequencing cancer genomes to tailor treatments to individual patients. (2014). The Pharmaceutical Journal.
Saey, T. (2010). Genes & Cells: RNA Harnessed to Control Cells: Genetic Devices could thwart Cancer and Signal Infections. Science News, 178(13), pp.13-13.
Venter, J. (2016). Craig Venter: Critical Tools and Technologies in Synthetic Genomics. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, 36(7), pp.19-20.
Huttley, G. (2006). Computational Genetics and Genomics: Tools for Understanding Disease. Immunology and Cell Biology, 84(1), pp.114-114.
Chaudhuri, K. and Chatterjee, R. (2007). MicroRNA Detection and Target Prediction: Integration of Computational and Experimental Approaches. DNA and Cell Biology, 26(5), pp.321-337.
Coller, H. (2013). Introducing the Systems Biology of Cell State Regulation section of Physiological Genomics. Physiological Genomics, 45(11), pp.407-408.
Kamlesh Jangid, O. (2015). Preservation of Uncultivated Microbial Cells for Single Cell Genomics and Cultivation in Future. Single Cell Biology, s1.

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