Each year, for the human genome project alone, scientists determine more than 210 million nucleotide base pairs, the code that makes up a DNA sequence. By the end of this year, it has been predicted that the human genome sequence databases will have grown to 4 billion base pairs. The effort to sequence the Arabidopsis genome will require determining the sequence of a 120-megabase sequence. Computers can greatly assisting in storing managing and storing all of this information. Results generated from DNA sequencing could identify genes, regulatory sequences and other functions.
Genes are the units of DNA that code for particular traits.
Once the information of the DNA sequence has been determined, the next step is to find out what these genes code for. This area of genomics is referred to as functional genomics as it involves determining the function of a gene. To determine function, scientists study gene expression, which will determine when, where and how much of a protein is produced. These processes are assisted by comparing one DNA sequence to the sequence from closely related organisms. One can also compare DNA sequences to determine how closely two different species are related on an evolutionary scale.