Welcome to the 31st IUBS General Assembly and Conference on ...

levels of elevated chromosomal damage <strong>and</strong>
micronucleated cells than non‐<strong>to</strong>bacco users. The
variation in <strong>the</strong> extent of genetic damage was dependent
on <strong>the</strong> duration of <strong>the</strong> <strong>to</strong>bacco use. The results of this
study show that while both <strong>to</strong>bacco chewers <strong>and</strong> exhibit
elevated chromosomal damage, although differences exist
in <strong>the</strong> type of aberrations. Results of cy<strong>to</strong>genetic <strong>and</strong>
molecular analyses will be correlated for effective
identification of potential targets in oral cancer
progression pathway from pre‐malignancy <strong>to</strong> malignancy
that can be interpreted for potential biomarker discovery.
De novo transcrip<strong>to</strong>me sequencing <strong>and</strong>
characterization of Chinomantes dehaani
P<strong>and</strong>a Da PAN
Jiangsu Key Labora<strong>to</strong>ry for Biodiversity <strong>and</strong> Biotechnology,
College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan
Road, Nanjing 210046, China. Email: p<strong>and</strong>a12354@sina.com
Brachyura comprises 7,000 extant species, constituting
<strong>the</strong> largest group of Decapoda, yet few transcrip<strong>to</strong>mic
data are available in public database <strong>and</strong> lack of genomic
resource. In <strong>the</strong> present study, we sequenced <strong>the</strong>
transcrip<strong>to</strong>me of Chinomantes dehaani, which is one of
<strong>the</strong> dominant burrowing macro‐benthos in salt marsh of
Yangtze estuary. More than 62 million raw sequencing
reads were generated using Illumina sequencing platform
<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n assembled in<strong>to</strong> 102019 unigenes with a mean
length of 469 nt. By using BLAST (E‐value≤1.0E‐5)
against <strong>the</strong> known proteins, a <strong>to</strong>tal of 33458 (32.80%)
unigenes were annotated. Of <strong>the</strong>se annotated unigenes,
9242 <strong>and</strong> 11244 unigenes were assigned <strong>to</strong> Gene
On<strong>to</strong>logy (GO) <strong>and</strong> Clusters of Orthologous Group (COG),
respectively. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, 14663 perfect simple
sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected in all unigenes.
Within <strong>the</strong> searched SSRs, di‐nucleotide repeat was <strong>the</strong>
most abundant type (8153, 55.6%). These SSRs will
provide valuable markers for fur<strong>the</strong>r researches on
phylogeography. O<strong>the</strong>rwise, we found a number of highly
expression genes which playing essential roles in
osmoregula<strong>to</strong>ry processes. Our data provide <strong>the</strong> most
comprehensive transcrip<strong>to</strong>me resource available for <strong>the</strong>
study of C. dehaani.
Developing undergraduate quantitative
biology courses <strong>to</strong> augment postgraduate
enrollment in bioinformatics <strong>and</strong>
computational Biology: efforts <strong>to</strong>wards a
plausible model for Africa
Lorna HOLTMAN
Postgraduate Studies, University of <strong>the</strong> Western Cape, South
Africa. Email: lholtman@uwc.ac.za
African researchers have recognized <strong>the</strong> need <strong>to</strong>
develop bioinformatics <strong>and</strong> computational biology
expertise <strong>to</strong> support research in neglected tropical
diseases <strong>and</strong> agriculture. The Human Heredity <strong>and</strong>
Health in Africa (H3Africa) project supported by <strong>the</strong>
National Institutes of Health <strong>and</strong> Wellcome Trust seek
<strong>to</strong> provide up‐<strong>to</strong>‐date platforms <strong>to</strong> enable African
biomedical scientists gain insight in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> genomics
<strong>and</strong> environmental determinants of prevalent diseases
<strong>to</strong> aid in discovering potential diagnosis <strong>and</strong> treatment
for African diseases. To support <strong>the</strong>se goals, sufficient
African investiga<strong>to</strong>rs need <strong>to</strong> be trained with <strong>the</strong>
requisite skills <strong>and</strong> competence <strong>to</strong> undertake effective
bioinformatics <strong>and</strong> computational biology research
comparable <strong>to</strong> world‐class st<strong>and</strong>ards. Notable
academic bodies such as <strong>the</strong> South African National
Bioinformatics Institute, erstwhile National
Bioinformatics Network of South Africa, African
Institute for Ma<strong>the</strong>matical Sciences, European
Bioinformatics Institute, World Health Organization,
African Society for Bioinformatics <strong>and</strong> Computational
Biology <strong>and</strong> International Society for Computational
Biology have contributed significantly <strong>to</strong>wards <strong>the</strong>
development of Bioinformatics <strong>and</strong> Computational
Biology skills in Africa. It appears much emphasis has
been placed on postgraduate ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong>
undergraduate level of studies. Even though some
universities offer bioinformatics related undergraduate
modules, it appears <strong>the</strong>se modules do not equip
undergraduate students with sufficient quantitative
biology skills suitable for enrolment in postgraduate
studies in Bioinformatics <strong>and</strong> Computational Biology.
Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, most already existing Bioinformatics <strong>and</strong>
Computational Biology related undergraduate modules
probably do not entice many students <strong>to</strong> pursue
fur<strong>the</strong>r postgraduate studies or careers in
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