[Genomics and functional genomics in microbiology].

Abstract

Functional genomics is changing our understanding of biology and changing our approach to biological research. It brings about concerted, high-throughput genetics with analyses of gene transcripts, proteins, and metabolites to answer the ultimate question posed by all genome-sequencing projects: what is the biological function of each and every gene? Functional genomics is stimulating a change in the research paradigm away from the analysis of single genes, proteins, or metabolites towards the analysis of each of these parameters on a global scale. By identifying and measuring several, if not the entire, molecular group of actors that take part in a given biological process, functional genomics offers the panorama of obtaining a truly holistic representation of life. Functional genomics methods are defined by high-throughput methods which are, not necessarily hypothesis-dependent. They offer insights into mRNA expression, protein expression, protein localization, and protein interactions and may cast light on the flow of information within signaling pathways. At its beginning, biology involved observing nature and experimenting on its isolated parts. Genomic research now generates new types of complex observational data derived from nature. This review describes the tools that are currently being used for functional genomics work and considers the impact that this new discipline on microbiology research.