Evolutionary Genomics: Statistical and Computational Methods. Volumes 1 and 2. — Edited by Maria Anisimova

Abstract

Relatively simple sequencing techniques first came into practical use in the mid 1980s, with PCR-based technology becoming a basic research tool by 1989. I well remember that one of my student office mates was working on bacterial DNA sequencing for his Ph.D. in the early 80s. At the end of his time, he repeated the entire previous 3 years of laborious laboratory work in 3 weeks with the new sequencing technology. He also learned computer programming during his Ph.D. tenure, so that he could write a program that folded the translated protein sequence into its 3-dimensional configuration. He was thus at the forefront of both molecular genetics and bioinformatics, whereas I was merely a very traditional ecology student.