Unigenes

Unigenes are a type of genetic sequence that are unique in a specific genome. They are derived from expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and are used in genomics and bioinformatics to identify and study genes. Unigenes are a crucial resource for gene discovery, gene mapping, and the development of molecular markers.

Overview

Unigenes are assembled from cDNA libraries, which are collections of cDNA sequences derived from the mRNA of a specific organism or tissue. The process of unigene creation involves several steps, including sequence alignment, clustering, and consensus sequence generation. The resulting unigenes represent a non-redundant set of gene-oriented clusters.

Applications

Unigenes are used in a variety of applications in genomics and bioinformatics. They are used in gene discovery, as they can provide a comprehensive view of the genes expressed in a particular organism or tissue. Unigenes are also used in gene mapping, as they can be used to identify the location of genes on chromosomes. In addition, unigenes are used in the development of molecular markers, which are used in genetic mapping and marker-assisted selection.

Databases

Several databases exist that store and provide access to unigene data. These include the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Unigene database and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) ArrayExpress database. These databases provide researchers with access to a wealth of unigene data, facilitating research in genomics and bioinformatics.

Challenges

Despite their utility, unigenes present several challenges. The process of unigene creation is computationally intensive, requiring significant computational resources. In addition, the quality of unigenes can be affected by the quality of the input cDNA sequences. Errors in the cDNA sequences can result in errors in the resulting unigenes.