C4. Use bioinformatics tools to examine complex biological problems in evolution, information flow, and other important areas of biology. This competency is written broadly so as to encompass a variety of problems that can be addressed using bioinformatics tools, such as understanding the evolutionary underpinnings of sequence comparison and homology detection; distinguishing between genomic sequences, RNA sequences, and protein sequences; and
23 interpreting phylogenetic trees. “Complex” biological problems require that students should be able to work through a problem with multiple steps, not just perform isolated tasks.
- Using multiple lines of evidence, annotate a gene.
- Develop and interpret a “tree of life” based on a BLAST search, multiple alignment, and
phylogenetic-tree building.
- Explain how a mutation in a gene causes cancer, using a genome browser to identify the gene, transcript, and affected protein, and tools such as OMIM, GO, and KEGG to place it in the context of a function and pathway important to the disease.