Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics and Informatics

Abstract

e occupants of neighboring fields have trouble understanding each others’ papers”… “The language used in Reports and Research Articles is sufficiently technical and arcane that they are hard to understand, even for those in related disciplines.” (Kennedy, D 2007 Science 318:715). One of the most fascinating features of science is its continuous evolution. My goal was to emphasize the principles, provide numerical data and guide to resources that are more difficult to access from other publications. The book can assist the reader to make better use of the Internet but the Internet and textbooks are no substitutes for this book. Unlike the majority of books, this Encyclopedia will not be outdated because the continuously renewed and updated databases and web sites listed assure its usefulness even in the distant future. Describing individual genes in different organisms—with some exceptions—is no longer practical in a single book or even with the aid of an excellent resource such as PubMed due to the multitude of abstracts (more than 15,000,000 entries from more than 19,000 journals). The web sites—listed in this book—can however, provide great help in identifying many genes, their synonyms, functions and interacting partners as well as critical references to them. Although basic statistical concepts are explained in simple terms, most of the theoretical mathematical models or detailed laboratory procedures are not included because of the difficulties of describing the techniques within the limited space available in a single book. The abundance of references can lead the reader in the right direction. Selection of papers for inclusion is also a continuous challenge. During 1992 to 2001 4,061 journals published more than 3.47 million peer-reviewed articles in health-related areas alone (Paraje, G et al. 2005 Science 308:959). Although this book is quite complex, integrated, and referenced, it does not include everything but it might be a useful guide to almost everything one needs in biology. For a proof of principle, I suggest that you look up any concept what you know or what you are uncertain or have doubts about