1. What is meant by the term "functional genomics"?

Functional genomics refers to the analysis of genome-wide patterns of gene expression. Such analyses are carried out with "DNA chips", microarrays which allow the determination of the relative level of gene expression of many, most, or even all of the genes in a genome. The first commercial "whole genome microarrays" for the human genome came on the market a year ago. Figure 12.20 shows the basics of what such a microarray is and how the experimental procedure works. Figure 12.21 shows about one-fourth of a whole genome microarray for yeast.


2. How can functional genomics be applied to studies on the embryological development of an organism?

Figure 12.22


3. How can functional genomics be applied to comparative studies between closely related species?

Figure 12.23