Bioinformatics: Basics, Algorithms and Applications

Bioinformatics has been recognized and studied as a separate discipline only in the last decade. Being a multidisciplinary subject it requires knowledge of several subjects, such as molecular biology, biochemistry, computer science and others. Students in a bioinformatics course are from different academic backgrounds; those who have studied biology (i.e., botany, zoology, biochemistry, microbiology, etc.), will require an introduction to mathematics and computer science, while those with a background in physics, chemistry and mathematics will need explanations of biological principles.

The book has been planned and structured as an undergraduate textbook for the one-semester foundation course in bioinformatics. In order to make the book more useful for a wider section of students and teachers, the book has been kept concise and relevant, at the same time covering all important aspects. Care has been taken to design the algorithms such that even beginners can understand them without difficulty.