Difference Between Structural and Functional Genomics

The key difference between structural and functional genomics is that structural genomics is the study of the physical nature of genomes, including the sequencing and mapping of genomes while functional genomics is the study of the expression and function of the genome.

Genomics is a field of biology which concerns the structure, organization, function, evolution and the mapping of genomes of living organisms. It also includes sequencing of genomes, determination of the complete set of proteins encoded by an organism, and the functioning of genes and metabolic pathways in an organism. In simple words, genomics is the large scale study of a group of genes. Therefore, the studies are conducted at the level of the genome. Structural genomics and functional genomics are the two main branches of genomics. Structural genomics focuses on the characterization and providing a location to the entire set of genes in a genome. In contrast, functional genomics focuses on the function and property.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Structural Genomics
3. What is Functional Genomics
4. Similarities Between Structural and Functional Genomics
5. Side by Side Comparison – Structural vs Functional Genomics in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What is Structural Genomics?

Structural genomics is the studying of the physical nature of the genome. Therefore, structural genomics mainly concerns the sequencing and mapping of genomes. The complete sequence of genomes or the complete set of proteins in an organism is determined by structural genomics. Genetic and physical maps are constructed in structural genomics. Moreover, structural genomics also involves sequencing of the genome and determination of the three-dimensional structure of each protein coded by genes of the genome.

What is Functional Genomics?

Functional genomics is a branch of genomics which deals with the expression of genes and their functions. It also concerns the pattern of gene expression and metabolic pathways. Functional genomics uses the vast amount of data produced by genomic projects in order to describe gene functions and interactions.

When determining the gene functions, transcription and translation are also analyzed in genomics. Expression profiling analyzes when and where particular genes are expressed. Determining the functions of specific genes is done by selectively mutating the desired genes.

What are the Similarities Between Structural and Functional Genomics?

Structural and functional genomics are two primary branches of genomics.
Both studies focus on different aspects of genomes.

What is the Difference Between Structural and Functional Genomics?

Structural genomics is the study that attempts to sequence the whole genome and mapping the genome while functional genomics is the study that attempts to determine the function of all gene products encoded by the genome of an organism. Therefore, structural genomics is mainly concerned with sequencing and mapping genome whereas functional genomics is mainly concerned with studying the expression and function of the genome. So, this is the key difference between structural and functional genomics. Besides, structural genomics determines the physical nature of the genome while functional genomics determines the expression of all genes and their functions.

Below infographic shows more details of the difference between structural and functional genomics.

Summary – Structural vs Functional Genomics

Structural and functional genomics are two domains of genomics. Structural genomics focuses on sequencing and mapping of genomes. While sequencing and providing the location of the entire set of genes in the genome, it attempts to determine the structure of every protein encoded by the genome. Functional genomics, on the other hand, focuses on the expression of genes and their functions and property. It tries to determine the interactions of genes and their products. Thus, this summarizes the difference between structural and functional genomics.

Reference:

1. “Genomics: Structural and Functional Studies of Genomics.” Your Article Library, 21 Feb. 2014, Available here.
2. “Genomics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2020, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Argonne’s Midwest Center for Structural Genomics deposits 1,000th protein structure” By Matt Howard – Argonne's Midwest Center for Structural Genomics deposits 1,000th protein structure (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Overview of Perturb-seq workflow” By Sdlee94 – The picture was created entirely on Keynote (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia