Emerging uses of sequence data

One of the most compelling reflections of the success of the bioinformatics paradigm is the diverse and often surprising ways people have found to use available sequence data - beyond the search for similarities that suggest functional similarities. As an incomplete list, this includes the comparison of available sequence data to find genes in newly sequenced data; to compare genome organization in different species; in molecular epidemiology to trace the progression of a disease; to build phylogenetic histories; to compare those phylogenies to establish symbiotic relationships between different organisms; to quickly identify different micro-organisms without culturing; to diagnose and set the prognosis of certain diseases (cancer for example); for genetic screening and to quickly detect polymorphisms without sequencing individual organisms. Most important, sequence-oriented bioinformatics and genomics, particularly the correlation of sequence data with molecular function, or structure data, or phenotypic data has established the base for functional genomics, pharacogenomics, proteomics, and proposals for a Human Phenome Project. A huge and growing commercial industry has grown from that base.