Introduction
ComputationalBiologyisabranchofbiology,whichreferstothedevelopmentandapplicationofdataanalysisandtheoreticalmethods,mathematicalmodeling,computersimulationtechnology,etc.Adisciplineinthestudyofbiology,behavior,andsocialgroupsystems.Atpresent,theamountandcomplexityofbiologicaldatacontinuetogrow,andthedatageneratedbygeneticresearchwilldoubleevery14months.Itisdifficulttocopewithobservationandexperimentalone.Therefore,itisnecessarytorelyonlarge-scalecalculationandsimulationtechnologytoextractthemostusefuldatafrommassiveamountsofinformation.
Comparedwithbioinformatics,computationalbiologyhasahigherlevel.Althoughtheboundarybetweenthetwoisblurred,bioinformaticsisslightlybiasedtowardsbiologyandcomputationalbiologyisslightlybiasedtowardscomputers.Bioinformaticsfocusesontheextractionandminingofdata,whilecomputationalbiologyfocusesontheprocessingandapplicationofdata.Theultimategoalofcomputationalbiologyisnotlimitedtosequencing,buttheuseofcomputerthinkingtosolvebiologicalproblems,usingcomputerlanguageandmathematicallogictoconstruct,describeandsimulatethebiologicalworld.
Calculationmethods
Variouscalculationmethodshavebeguntobewidelyusedindrugresearch,aswellastheresearchanddevelopmentofinnovativediseasetargetsandinformaticsanalysissystemswithindependentintellectualpropertyrights.Atthesametime,usingcomputationalbiology,scientistsareexpectedtodirectlydecipherthelawsofgeneticlanguageinnucleicacidsequences,simulatetheprocessofinformationflowinlife,andunderstandaseriesoflawssuchasmetabolism,development,andevolution,andultimatelybenefitmankind.
Technologydevelopment
Inthe1980s,thedevelopmentofcomputerscienceandtechnology,aswellastheestablishmentofthesystemtheoryofbiochemistryandmolecularbiology,washeldintheUnitedStatesin1989.Theinternationalconferenceonmathematicsdiscussedtheresearchmethodsofcomputermodelsofbiologicalsystemtheoryandinitiatedthedevelopmentofcomputationalbiology.Itwasaseminarforearlycomputationalsystemsbiologists;therefore,itwaslaterchangedtotheInternationalConferenceonMolecularSystemsBiology(ICMSB,seeThe10thConference),the11thInternationalConferenceonMolecularSystemsBiologywassuccessfullyheldattheChineseAcademyofSciences-MaxPlanckShanghaiInstituteofComputationalBiology,Germany.Chemicalbiology,computationalbiologyandsyntheticbiologyconstitutetheexperimentaldata,mathematicalmodelandengineeringdesignmethodsystemofsystemsbiologyandsystemsbioengineering,namelysystemsbiotechnology,whichhasbroughtabouttherapidglobaldevelopmentofsystemsbiosciencesinthe21stcentury.period.
Importantrole
Currently,computationalbiologyandbioinformaticshavenosignificantdifferencesinresearchmethodsandobjects.Computer-aideddesignofgenesandproteins,comparativegenomeanalysis,Biologicalsystemmodels,cellsignaltransductionandgeneregulationnetworkresearch,expertdatabases,biologicalsoftwarepackagesandotherfieldsplayanimportantrole.
Researchcontent
Theresearchcontentofcomputationalbiologymainlyincludesthefollowingaspects:
1.Fragmentassemblyofbiologicalsequences.
2.Sequencedocking.
3.Generecognition.
Only3%-5%ofthe3billionhumanDNAsequencesaregenes.Toclarifythelocation,structure,function,andexpressionofallgenesinthehumanbody,computingpowerplaysanimportantrole,andanimportantapplicationistosimulategeneexpressiondatasets.
4.Theconstructionoftheracetree.
5.Proteinstructureprediction.
Manyofthepropertiesandfunctionsofaproteinarerelatedtoitsactualthree-dimensionalstructure.Givenanysequenceofaprotein,biologistscanusetraditionalbiologicalmethodstofinditsstructure,butthisisnotonlyHighcostandtime-consuming,computationalbiologyproteinstructurepredictiontoolscandirectlyderiveitsstructurethroughsequenceanalysis,suchasCYTO:thecausalproteinsignalingnetworkinhumanTcells.
6.Biologicaldatabase
Theamountofbiologicaldatacontinuestogrow,andthedatageneratedbygeneticresearchwilldoubleevery14months.Themassiveamountofdataaloneispowerlesstorelyonobservationandexperimentation.
Traditionaldatabasetechnologiesarenowshowinggreatpower,suchastheCATHproteinstructureclassificationdatabaseandthefruitflyinteractivedatabase.
Withthedevelopmentofscienceandtechnology,theapplicationofcomputationalbiologyhasbecomemoreandmoreextensive,suchasthestudyofbioequivalence,skinresistance,treatmentofosteoarthritis,sleepinmammals,etc..