Q. In the context of the developments in Bioinformatics, the term ‘transcriptome’, sometimes seen in the news, refers to

  • a range of enzymes used in genome editing
  • the full range of mRNA molecules expressed by an organism
  • the description of the mechanism of gene expression
  • a mechanism of genetic mutation taking place in cells

Answer: (b) the full range of mRNA molecules expressed by an organism

Bioinformatics
  • Bioinformatics, as related to genetics and genomics, is a scientific subdiscipline that involves using computer technology to collect, store, analyze and disseminate biological data and information, such as DNA and amino acid sequences or annotations about those sequences.
  • Bioinformatics uses biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, computer programming, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data. The subsequent process of analyzing and interpreting data is referred to as computational biology.
  • Scientists and clinicians use databases that organize and index such biological information to increase our understanding of health and disease and, in certain cases, as part of medical care.
Transcriptome
  • Transcriptome refers to the protein-coding part of an organism’s genome.
  • It is set of RNA molecules such as messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and other noncoding RNA molecules that are present in cells or tissue type.
    • A genome is the collection of all DNA present in the nucleus and the mitochondria of a somatic cell while the initial product of genome expression in the transcriptome.
    • In contrast with the genome, which is characterized by its stability, the transcriptome actively changes.
    • An organism’s transcriptome varies depending on many factors, including the stage of development and environmental conditions.
  • Therefore, as mRNA is further translated into proteins, transcriptome can be seen as precursor of proteome (set of proteins expressed by an organism). In order to study the transcriptome of an organism, complementary DNA (cDNA) is synthesized using mRNA as template. mRNA can be isolated from different tissues of an organism at various time intervals to be able to capture maximum number of genes expressed in an organism in one time.
  • Transcriptome data obtained from different types of cells can help researchers to gain a deeper understanding of what constitutes a specific cell type, how that type of cell normally functions, and how changes in the normal level of gene activity may reflect or contribute to disease. Furthermore, by aligning the transcriptome of each cell type to the genome, it is possible to generate a comprehensive, genome-wide picture of the gene expression.