Assessment of the scientific-technological production in molecular biology in Brazil (1996-2007): the contribution of genomics programs

Several genome sequencing programs were launched in Brazil by the end of the nineties and the early 2000s.The most important initiatives were supported by the ONSA program (http://watson.fapesp.br/onsa/Genoma3.htm) and aimed at gaining domain in genomic technology and bringing molecular biology to the state of art. Two mainsets of data were collected in the 1996-2007 period to evaluate the results of these genome programs: the scientific production (Scopus and Web of Science databases) and the register of patents (US Patent and Trademark Office), both related to the progress of molecular biology along this period. In regard to the former, Brazil took a great leap in comparison to 17 other developed and developing countries, being only surpassed by China. As to the register of patents in the area of molecular biology, Brazil's performance lags far behind most of the countries focused in the presentstudy, confirming the Brazilian long-standing tendency of poor achievements in technological innovations when compared with scientific production. Possible solutions to surpass this inequality are discussed.

Vários programas de sequenciamento de genoma foram lançados no Brasil no final da década de noventa e início dadécada de 2000. As mais importantes iniciativas foram sustentadas pelo programa ONSA (http://watson.fapesp.br/onsa/Genoma3.htm) e visavam o domínio da tecnologia genômica e o progresso da biologia molecular para o estado da arte desta disciplina. Dois principais conjuntos de dados foram coletados no período de 1996-2007 para avaliar os resultados destes programas de genômica: a produção científica (bases de dados SCOPUS e o registro de patentes (US Patent and Trademark Office), ambos relacionados com o progresso de biologiamolecular ao longo deste período. Em relação ao primeiro o Brasil de um grande passo em comparação a 17 outros países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento, sendo apenas superado pela China. Com relação ao registro de patentes na área de biologia molecular, o desempenho do Brasil fica bem atrás entre os países focados no presente estudo, confirmando a perdurável tendência de pobres conquistas em inovação tecnológica, quando comparado com produção científica. São discutidas as possíveis soluções para superar este desequilíbrio.

Necesidad de un centro nacional de bioinformática y biología computacional para Colombia / The need for a Colombian bioinformatics and computational biology centre

Los principales y más revolucionarios avances de la biología en este siglo se han derivado de la información proveniente de genomas completos de diferentes organismos. Los descubrimientos que se derivan de la genómica están generando un nuevo paradigma en la biología, sustituyendo la era de la biología centrada en los genes por aquella centrada en los genomas. Este nuevo concepto es base para desarrollos de gran potencial e impacto social en diferentes áreas como la medicina, la agricultura y la industria. El éxito en el desarrollo de métodos de última generación para la secuenciación de genomas, la proteómica y todas las “omicas”, ha contribuido al surgimiento de nuevas posibilidades para el análisis de la enorme cantidad de datos que se están generando mediante el uso de herramientas computacionales, dando origen a una nueva rama de estudio conocida como bioinformática o biología computacional.Este trabajo hace una revisión general del desarrollo de la bioinformática y la biología computacional en Colombia. Inicialmente, a modo de comparación, describimos el desarrollo de esta ciencia en otros países latinoamericanos que son reconocidos en el área. Finalmente, se discuten los principales aspectos que van a jugar un papel importante en el futuro de esta ciencia en nuestro país, y que además justifican la necesidad de crear un centro nacional de bioinformática y biología computacional.

The main, most revolutionary advances in biology during this century have arisen from information being provided from revealing different organisms’ complete genomes. The discoveries deriving from genomics are leading to a new paradigm in biology, the era of gene-centred biology being substituted for that centred on genomes. Such new concepts represent the basis for developments with great potential and social impact in different areas such as medicine, agriculture and industry. The successful development of latestgeneration methods for genome sequencing, proteomics and all the other “-omics” has contributed towards an enormous amount of genetic data being produced that needs to be analyzed using computational tools. This has led to the development of a new area called bioinformatics or computational biology.The present work gives a general overview of the development of bioinformatics and computational biology in Colombia. The justification for the establishment of a National ioinformatics and computational biology centre is discussed, as well as some aspects that will be crucial for developing this science in Colombia.

1/f correlations in viral genomes--a Fast-Fourier Transformation (FFT) Study.

We have studied the presence of long-range correlations in the complete genomes of ten different dsDNA viruses and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (bakers' yeast) chromosome I. We have also studied the correlation between the distribution of the gene length and the domain of "1/f region" of their genomes. Linear regression analysis was done for the power-law region of these organisms and the slope values obtained were approximately -1, which signify the existence of "1/f noise" in the low and medium (intermediate) frequency regions. This suggests the presence of long-range correlations in their genomes. The presence of 1/f noise in a given frequency interval indicates the existence of a fractal (self-similar) structure in the corresponding range of wavelengths. The results of our study suggest that genes have correlations within themselves, and the correlations appear to be related with the scaling exponent alpha.