BIO Assignment 1 2011

Assignment 1 - First steps

Note: This assignment is currently active. All changes will be announced on the course mailing list.

Introduction

In this assignment we will introduce some key databases for bioinformatics that we will refer to throughout the course. You will receive more information on these databases as the course progresses, but you should be familiar in principle with their contents and services from the outset. Also, to enhance your course experience, you should familiarize yourself with a molecular graphics viewer and practice viewing molecules in stereo.

Submission and due date

Prepare a Microsoft Word document with a title page that contains:

• your full name
• your Student ID
• your e-mail address

Copy the assessment part of the assignment into the document. save it with a filename of: A1_{lastname}.{firstname}.doc (for example my first assignment would be named: A1_steipe.boris.doc) and e-mail the document to boris.steipe@utoronto.ca before the due date. With the number of students in the course, we have to economize on processing the assignments. Thus we will not accept assignments that are not prepared as described above. If you have technical difficulties, contact me.

The due date for the assignment is Thursday, October 5. at 10:00 in the morning.

Grading

Marks for this assignment are self assessed. We expect your honesty, but you can expect that the skills you obtain through this assignment will also be required for the final exam. Assignments that are received past the due date will have one mark deducted at the first minute of every twelve hour period past the due date. Assignments received more than 5 days past the due date will not be assessed.

The marks you receive will

• count directly towards your final marks at the end of term, for BCH441 (undergraduates), or
• be divided by two for BCH1441 (graduates).

1. Key databases

 

 

1.1 The NCBI (1 mark)

Visit the NCBI website at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Look for the site-map and explore the contents of this site, the databases, the services and its other offerings. Browse across the different sections and set yourself a specific objective so you are confident you know what this part is and does. Expect to spend more than two hours on this task.

For example, you might have:

• looked at least at two Coffee Break tutorials and know what the others contain
• familiarized yourself with the search field tags in PubMed to the degree that you know how to formulate a specific search, for example to retrieve review articles that mention the cell cycle in their title, which are about saccharomyces cerevisiae , that are not more than two years old
• tried searching for crossreferences to the YER111C gene using the Entrez system
• used the map viewer to explore the region between 370 and 400 KB on yeast chromosome V
• etc.

1.2 The EBI (1 mark)

Visit the EBI website at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/

Look for the site-map and explore the contents of this site, the databases, the services and its other offerings. Browse across the different sections and set yourself specific objectives so you are confident you know what each section is and does. Expect to spend more than two hours on this task.

For example, you might have:

• browsed through the tutorials (e.g. the lectin tutorial) in the education section of the Macromolecular Structure Database (MSD)group
• used the e! Ensembl browser to compare your experience in exploring yeast chromosomeV:370000-400000
• explored crossreferences to the yeast Swi4 protein using the SRS system
• browsed through the Interpro Molecule of the Month articles and read the article on TATA-box binding protein
• looked at the 2can tutorial pages and explored the tutorial on database browsing
• etc.

1.3 The PDB (1 mark)

Visit the PDB website at http://www.pdb.org/

Browse across the different sections and set yourself a specific objective so you are confident you know what this part is and does. Look for the "About PDB" page and explore the page. Explore the links on the "Education" page to see where you might fill in gaps in your knowledege of structural molecular biology. From the homepage, find a protein of your choice (eg. the yeast Swi6 or Mbp1 protein) and explore the information that is available for it. Expect to spend more than an hour on this task.

For example, you might have:

• worked through the PDB query tutorial
• browsed through the Molecule of the Month articles and studied the entry on TATA-box binding proteins
• and explored structures entries for 1SW6, 1E0B and 1BM8
• etc.

1.4 BioMart (1 mark)

Data integration across a variety of databases is a major challenge for the data-management side of bioinformatics. You have come across two solutions above: the NCBI Entrez system and the EBI SRS system. Here is another solution to this problem: the EBI BioMart system.

• Access the BioMart server at http://www.biomart.org
• Follow at least two links into BioMart databases (e.g. ensembl and HapMap)
• Explore

2. Rasmol (3 marks)

Access the Rasmol tutorial at http://biochemistry.utoronto.ca/steipe/bioinformatics/tutorials/rasmol_tutorial.html Install Rasmol(Linux), RasMac (Macintosh), or RasTop(Windows) on your computer.

Work through the tutorial.

3. Stereo vision (3 marks):

Use the hints given in the stereo vision section of the Rasmol tutorial and practice viewing molecules in stereo. Make sure that you use the Rasmol command

set stereo -5

to display molecules for divergent ("wall-eyed", not "cross-eyed") stereo view. Practice at least ...

• two times daily,
• for 3-5 minutes each session,
• for at least twelve days (twentyfour sessions) between now and the due date of the assignment.

Keep up your practice after the assignment. Stereo viewing will be required in the final exam.

You will receive 1 mark for every 8 sessions (4 days) of practice you have completed (max. 3 marks). Use different molecules and try them with different colouring and renderings. You will find a list suggesting interesting molecules on the tutorial page.

Record your progress on a sheet of paper. Make sure you also record the information for the supplementary questions you need to turn in (see below).

Note: do not go through this assignment mechanically. If you are not making any progress, contact me so we can help you on the right track.

Assessment

 

 

Copy and paste from the following for your submission. Copy the most appropriate phrase for each section, fill in the blanks and answer the questions truthfully.

 

NCBI:
I have explored the NCBI Web site in detail, familiarized myself
with its contents and am confident that I will find information
that I am  looking for. A part of the site that I found particularily 
interesting or useful is ________________________ (1 mark).

or

I did not find the time to explore the NCBI site in detail (0 marks).

   

EBI:
I have explored the EBI Web site in detail, familiarized myself
with its contents and am confident that I will find information
that I am looking for. A part of the site that I found particularily
interesting or useful is ________________________ (1 mark).

or

I did not find the time to explore the EBI site in detail (0 marks).

   

PDB:
I have explored the PDB Web site in detail, familiarized myself
with its contents and am confident that I will find information
that I am looking for. A part of the site that I found particularily
interesting or useful is ________________________ (1 mark).

or

I did not find the time to explore the PDB site in detail (0 marks).

   

BioMart:
I have accessed the BioMart Web site and familiarized myself with
the functionality of at least two BioMart databases. I understand
some of the issues of data integration and how they are addressed
through BioMart.  (1 mark).

or

I did not find the time to explore the seqhound site (0 marks).

   

Copy and paste from the following statements the one that best characterizes your situation:

Rasmol:
I have successfully completed the Rasmol tutorial;
I understand the purpose and command syntax of
all the commands used in the scripted tutorial
examples and can confidently use all of these for
my own visualization tasks (3 marks).

or

I have worked with the Rasmol tutorial. Nevertheless,
I am not confident with the purpose and command
syntax of some of the commands used in the scripted
tutorial examples. I have changed some parameters
and achieved predictable results (2 marks).

or

The command syntax of some of the commands used
in the scripted tutorial examples is challenging; I have
worked with the program, but before I can use it for my
own purposes I will need additional training (1 marks).

or

I have not done this part of the assignment (0 marks).

   

Copy the following statement into your assignment and fill in the blanks truthfully.

Stereo Vision:
I have practiced stereo viewing twice daily on _____ days 
for a total of _____ practice sessions (maximum 3 marks for 24 sessions).

   

Supplementary questions (these will not be marked):

I have been able to visualize a 3D image in focus for the first time on day ___.

I have been able to view molecules in stereo comfortably since day ___.

Currently I am able to view molecules in stereo on screen and on
paper with ease / with some effort / with difficulty / rarely / not at all.

[End of assignment]