Genomics and DNA Sequencing

Genomics studies the full set of genetic material in an organism. In humans, that genome includes the DNA carried in 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus, along with mitochondrial DNA. Genomics looks at both coding DNA and non-coding DNA, which helps scientists study how living things are built and how they differ.

The study of individual genes has produced extraordinary insights into nearly all aspects of biology, ranging from disease and heredity to agriculture and evolution. However, many questions about how genes work and evolve can be answered only by studying all of an organism’s DNA—its genome—together as a whole.

The study ...