An in silico bioinformatics laboratory manual for bioscience departments: ‘prediction of glycosylation sites in phosphoethanolamine transferases’

Abstract

Genomics and proteomics projects have produced a huge amount of raw biological data including DNA and protein sequences. Although these data have been stored in data banks, their evaluation is strictly dependent on bioinformatics tools. These tools have been developed by multidisciplinary experts for fast and robust analysis of biological data. However, there is a gap in the development of educational materials in the bioinformatics area for undergraduate students in bioscience departments. A sample in silico laboratory manual on the prediction of N-glycosylation sites in phosphoethanolamine transferases is presented in this study. The method proposed in this study is simple to apply in laboratory courses and is dependent on the use of internet-based bioinformatics tools such as ProtParam, ClustalW2 and NetNGlyc. In conclusion, this application can stimulate the interest of undergraduate students in bioscience departments and may also contribute to the development of bioinformatics.

Keywords:

• bioinformatics education
• bioinformatics tools
• glycosylation
• laboratory guide
• phosphoethanolamine transferases

Acknowledgement

The undergraduate students, Demet Demirkiran, Merve Bayraktar and Nuray Dinibutun, are kindly acknowledged for their help with the data collection.