Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins (Paperback)

~ Andreas D. Baxevanis (Editor), B. F. Francis Ouellette (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . a useful resource to help biologists extract the maximum value from their public database." -- Cell

"...a worthwhile addition to the library..." -- FEBS Letters, No, 468, 2000

"A Multitude of computational algorithms and electronic resources are available to biologists for the analysis of DNA or protein sequences. But finding the right tools can be bewildering and frustrating . . . In Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins, Andreas Baxevanis and B.F. Francis Ouellette provide a way for a scientist to chart a course through these confused seas . . . It provides concise overviews of the structure, logic, content, and access methods for many widely used bioinformatics resources" -- Science

"A reference that should be in the personal library of any biologist who uses the Internet for the analysis of DNA and protein sequence data." -- Science

"A reference that should be in the personal library of any biologist who uses the Internet for hte analysis of DNA and protein sequence data" -- Science

"A reference that should be in the personal library of any biologist who uses the Internet for the analysis of DNA and protein sequence data" -- Science

Product Description

BIOINFORMATICS, a field integrating molecular biology and computational methods, has revolutionized gene discovery and related research. This new, rapidly evolving discipline provides the tools scientists need to cope with the flood of biological data and raw DNA and protein sequence information generated by such endeavors as the Human Genome Project.

Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins makes computational biology accessible to scientists at all levels of expertise, including those with no formal computer training. It cuts through the overwhelming array of existing tools and databases, helping the reader design and implement a successful sequence analysis strategy. Presented by leading authorities in computational biology, this edited volume covers the gamut of topics, from using software and Internet resources to submitting DNA sequences to databases. Other topics include:

* The GenBank sequence database and structure databases
* Sequence analysis using GCG
* Information retrieval from biological databases
* The NCBI data model
* Sequence alignment and database searching
* Practical aspects of multiple sequence alignment
* Phylogenetic analysis
* Predictive methods using nucleotide sequences and protein sequences
* Navigating public physical mapping databases
* ACeDB: A database for genome information

Bioinformatics is fully referenced and provides appendices, sample sequence file formats, and over 120 illustrations. A must have for molecular biologists, geneticists, and any biologist interested in genes and proteins, it can also be used in a one-semester practical course on sequence analysis and bioinformatics.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience; 1 edition (July 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471191965
• ISBN-13: 978-0471191964
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,943,740 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from NATURE STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY review (Dec 99), December 2, 1999

By A Customer

"The novice user of bioinformatics tools needs a guide that answers several fundamental questions - what are these tools designed for and what can they do; what are their limitations; how does one access them, and where can one find further information. For each of the basic sub-fields of bioinformatics, Bioinformatics provides a survey, a list of world wide web addresses (URLs), and a list of monographs and reviews to which the reader may go for further information. Each chapter covers fundamental definitions and makes no assumptions about prior knowledge.... The book provides a broad overview of the basic tools for sequence analysis. It is a good starting point for the reader who wants to learn about the types of tools used in bioinfomatics and how to get started. For biologists approaching this subject for the first time, it will be a very useful handbook to keep on the shelf after the first reading, close to the computer." --Terry Gaasterland, The Rockefeller University

45 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mileading, disappointing, useless, June 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins, Second Edition (Paperback)

Baxevanis and Ouellete apparently convinced some of their colleagues from NIH (and a few others) to publish user manuals for selected computer programs in the form of edited book. The idea itself is valuable provided that the complete collection of meaningful software is described competently and honestly. Unfortunately the content of this book is limited mostly to the software developed by NCBI and to analyses performed on the UNIX-based workstations. There is almost no coverage of other bioinformatics software (except for the GCG package which contains software and database tools common with NCBI anyway.)

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the book is lack of description of the fundamentals of sequence analysis. With the exception of Chapter 10 one cannot learn sequence analysis from this volume. Nor would it be advisable to use it as a desk reference to find appropriate citations of published sequence analysis work. A vast majority of references cited is biased. Merits of the citations' content do not seem to matter to the editors and that makes their book almost useless for the would-be practitioners.

I hasten to admonish that the book appears to be primarily a software marketing material and not an effort to educate or otherwise empower the reader. I am surprised that the material covered by the book is not distributed free of charge via Internet or other publicly available means. 9 out of 16 contributors (I refer here to the first edition) are actively working for the US Government at the time of writing. Still their chapters appear to be copyrighted by the publisher instead of being in public domain. But these are all minor problems comparing to the misgivings of the book's content mentioned in the first two paragraphs of this note.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important contribution to a cutting edge field., October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins (Hardcover)

This book represents an very important contribution to the emerging field of bioinformatics. There is a vast, and continually growing, amount of resources available for the analysis of DNA and protein sequences. The difficulty comes is making in sense of all it all, and organizing it in the most productive manner possible. This work is one of the few texts -- and certainly the most current -- to address this issue and provide realistic and usable systems to accomplish that. It should be required reading for anyone wishing to remain up-to-date in this rapidly changing field. This is one "practical guide" that really is!