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Genomics has the potential of offering new therapeutic methods for the treatment of some diseases, as well as new diagnostic methods. Other applications are in the food and agriculture sectors. The major tools and methods related to genomics are bioinformatics, genetic analysis, measurement of gene expression, and determination of gene function.

1 History

Genomics appeared in the 1980s and took off in the 1990s with the initiation of genome projects for several species. The related field of genetics is the study of genes and their role in inheritance.

The first genome to be sequenced in its entirety was that of bacteriophage FX174 (5,368 kb) in 1980. The first free-living organism to be sequenced was that of Haemophilus influenzae (1.8Mb) in 1995, and since then genomes are being sequenced at a rapid pace. A rough draft of the human genome was completed by the Human Genome Project in early 20012001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also: The International Year of the Volunteer The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Events January January 1 A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall ap amid much fanfare.

1.1 The growth of the "omics"

Main article: -omicsInformally, an omics is a neologism referring to a field of study in biology, ending in the suffix omics such as genomics or proteomics. The related neologism omes are the objects of study of the field such the genome or proteome, respectively omes stems

The original use of the suffix "ome" (from the Greek for 'all', 'every' or 'complete') was " genome", which refers to the complete genetic makeup of an organism. Because of the success of large-scale quantitative biology projects such as genome sequencing, the suffix "ome" has been extended to a host of other contexts. Some of the more common "omes" are now well-established within genomics, having shaken their putative origins as buzzwordA buzzword (also known as a fashion word is an idiom, often a neologism, commonly used in technical, administrative and political environments, consisting of an over-used word or phrase. Buzzwords appear ubiquitously but their actual meanings often remains:

• The proteomeThe term proteome was first used in 1995 and has been applied to several different types of biological systems. A cellular proteome is the collection of proteins found in a particular cell type under a particular set of environmental conditions such as ex is the totality of proteins ( expressed genes) in an organism, tissue type or cell, and proteomicsProteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions. This term was coined to make an analogy with genomics, and is often viewed as the "next step", but proteomics is much more complicated than genomics. Most import is now well-established as a term for studying the proteome.
• The glycomeThe glycome is the collective identity of the entirety of carbohydrates in an organism. The glycome may in fact be one of the most complex entities in nature. The glycome is studied by glycobiology sometimes referred to as glycomics. The genome is one of is the total list of sugar ( carbohydrate) molecules in an organism, and glycomics (sometimes glycobiology) has become an established term.