Handbook of Genomics

Genomics is an evolving interdisciplinary ground of study aimed at collecting, understanding and exploiting the biological information encoded in long stretches of DNA. The objective of genomics is to support the understanding of the structure, function and evolution of genomes in all kingdoms of life and the application of genome sciences and technologies to challenging problems in biology and medicine. The field also includes studies of intragenomic phenomena such as heterosis, epistasis, pleiotropy and other interactions between loci and alleles within the genome. In contrast, the investigation of the roles and functions of single genes is a primary focus of molecular biology or genetics and is a common topic of modern medical and biological research. This book is aimed at providing readers brief information about the various aspects and applications of genomics.