Bacterial Genomes: From DNA to Protein Function Using Bioinformatics (FutureLearn)

Bacterial Genomes: From DNA to Protein Function Using Bioinformatics (FutureLearn)

Use bioinformatics to explore DNA sequences and protein functions, to find the determinants of virulence in microbes. Join us in our quest to discover what makes microbes dangerous. Use bioinformatics to probe genomes, to explore and represent DNA and protein sequences. Then, use databases to find protein sequences’ conserved domains and investigate their functions.

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What topics will you cover?
• Bioinformatics tools, DNA and protein sequences
• Retrieving DNA and protein sequences from repositories
• Databases for protein annotation
• Inferring function from sequence

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • assess DNA representations and protein sequences
  • perform searches in primary databases (repositories) and retrieve gene/protein data
  • interpret different repository submission formats
  • investigate biological databases for research
  • identify the putative function of proteins based on their conserved domains

Who is the course for?
The course will be of interest to undergraduates, post-graduates, researchers, bioinformaticians, biomedical researchers, microbiologists, healthcare professionals and all those who are interested in learning about the underlying mechanisms of bacterial disease, DNA sequences and protein data, or how to use online analytical tools to probe genomes.
The topics covered in this course are applicable to the genomes of all organisms. It is not essential to have previous knowledge or experience in bioinformatics. Scientific terminology is explained. The opportunity to use online computational tools in the context of bacterial genomes will also be of interest to teachers and their 16-18-year-old science and computing students.

What software or tools do you need?
No specific software, hardware, or other resources are required.

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