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Book Review: Bioinformatics: Methods Express
Reviewed by Peter D. St. Onge

Bioinformatics: Methods Express
Edited by Paul H. Dear
ISBN: 978-1-904842-16-3

The progression of bioinformatics over the last twenty years, from initial programs and simulations to the rich set of tools now available, is mirrored in the rapid growth in specialized fields (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, with seemingly more appearing daily) and the drive to sequence more and more species every year.

With most of the development in bioinformatics revolving around software, a majority of texts have thus far focused on software programming and development in various languages. While large, genome-level projects require this approach, few outside such large projects would invest such time. This book stands out from many other bioinformatics texts as it emphasizes the opposite - using existing software tools without requiring programming. The book is not aimed at the programmer, but rather at the non-programmer - the researcher wanting to focus on particular biological questions relevant to their research.

The book's chapters deal with sequenced genomes, sequence similarity searches, gene prediction, noncoding transcripts prediction, finding regulatory elements in DNA sequence, ESTs, protein structure, gene ontology, protein function prediction, multiple sequence alignment, and inferring phylogenetic relationships from sequence data. Each chapter lays the biological and computational foundation for bioinformatics tools, providing clearly explained walkthroughs of the use of these tools to answer typical biological questions.

Each of the chapters stands alone well, with a section providing abbreviations and other useful context. Along with lists of additional online resources, the copious and detailed references at the end of each chapter provide the reader ample opportunity to explore the subject area further. The book also has a companion web site with data files and other useful information to supplement the book.

This book provides an excellent overview and synthesis of the best and most accessible bioinformatics resources currently available for the biologist, and provides an excellent introduction to the field in general.

Peter D. St. Onge
BIOTA Group
Depts of Cell and Systems Biology & Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Toronto

All Bioinformatics.Org members can purchase this book at a 15% discount from the list price. Scion Publishing Ltd. will also donate 5% of the list price to Bioinformatics.Org for all sales made via the following website: http://www.scionpublishing.com/bioinformaticsoffer

Sample chapter