Bioinformatics facts for kids
Bioinformatics (say: Bye-oh-in-for-MAT-iks) is a cool field that mixes biology with computer science. It's all about using computers to understand huge amounts of information about living things, especially tiny molecules like DNA. Think of it as being a detective who uses powerful computers to solve biological mysteries!
Contents
Why is Bioinformatics Important?
Understanding Life's Changes
Living things, or species, change over long periods of time. This process is called evolution. As species evolve, the DNA inside their cells also changes.
By looking at the DNA of different living things today, we can compare them. This helps us see how closely they are related. For example, two species with very similar DNA are probably close relatives.
Building Family Trees of Life
Scientists can use this information to create "family trees" for living things. These trees are called phylogenies. They show how different species are connected through evolution.
When we put all these smaller trees together, we can create a giant "Tree of Life." This tree connects every living thing on Earth! Bioinformatics uses mathematics, statistics, and computer methods to study all this biological information.
How Cells Use Information
The Role of DNA and Proteins
Every piece of information a cell needs is stored in its DNA. DNA is like a giant instruction manual for the cell.
When a cell needs to build something, like a protein, it finds the right part of the DNA. It then makes a copy of that part. This copy is called RNA. The cell uses the instructions in the RNA copy to build the protein.
What Do Proteins Do?
Proteins are super important! They do many jobs inside living things. Some proteins help with transporting things around the cell. Others provide structural support, like building blocks. Proteins also help with movement and metabolism, which is how our bodies use energy.
Proteins are made from smaller parts called amino acids. There are 20 different kinds of amino acids. These 20 amino acids can be put together in millions of ways to make all the different proteins we need.
Studying Molecules with Computers
Because there are so many different DNA, RNA, and protein molecules, it's hard for people to study them all by hand. This is where computers come in!
Computers can help us look at the long chains of DNA, RNA, and amino acids. These chains are called sequences. By using bioinformatics, we can understand how all these tiny parts work together in a living system.
Computers are Super Helpers
Chemists have learned how to understand small molecules using mathematics. They often use computers to help them.
However, the DNA in just one cell is incredibly long. It's far too much for any person to read! Imagine trying to compare the DNA of two people, or even two different animals. This means comparing huge amounts of information to find tiny differences.
Computers are much better at comparing large amounts of data quickly. Computer programmers and biologists work together to create massive databases. These databases store all the DNA information that scientists have ever discovered. This makes it much easier to study and compare life's secrets!
Related pages
Images for kids
-
Early bioinformatics—computational alignment of experimentally determined sequences of a class of related proteins; see § Sequence analysis for further information.
-
Map of the human X chromosome (from the National Center for Biotechnology Information website)
-
Sequences of genetic material are frequently used in bioinformatics and are easier to manage using computers than manually.
-
These are sequences being compared in a MUSCLE multiple sequence alignment (MSA). Each sequence name (leftmost column) is from various louse species, while the sequences themselves are in the second column.
-
3-dimensional protein structures such as this one are common subjects in bioinformatic analyses.
See also
In Spanish: Bioinformática para niños
