Seri - Bioinformatics : To Enhance Silken Touch

Abstract

Computational Biology has emerged as one of the leading interdisciplinary realms having applications and analytical implications in every branch of biological sciences. The efforts to understand silkworm or its interactions with other organisms have generated a plethora of information which has been converted into different types of electronic databases. Application of modern methodologies, such as, next generation sequencing - comparative modelling and simulation, docking and design of specific molecules which not only provide insight on disease incidence and progression in silkworms but also provides us with necessary information for enhancement of silk fibre quality for enhancing that silken touch. These seri-bioinformatics databases are a valuable seri-bioresource. In this paper, we have reviewed some of the available online resources on silkworm and its related organisms, including databases as well as informative websites. Designed as a basic platform and accompanied by the SilkDB, MorusDB and strives to be a comprehensive platform for the silkworm-mulberry interaction studies. Some of the other seri-databases reviewed are BmMDB, MulSatDB and SilkTransDB. Application of bioinformatics tools and techniques not only facilitated detection of proteomic and genomic diversity among the species/strains but also resulted in finding a gap in the silkworm genome sequence of a strain that diverged during the course of domestication.