Bioinformatics at the interface of 21st century chemistry and biology

High-throughput genome sequencing of hundreds of living organisms, availability of over 1.5 million protein sequences and the solution of more than 44,000 three-dimensional molecular structures have yielded unprecedented insights into the molecular processes of life. There is a growing need to collect, store and curate all this information in ways that allow its well-organized retrieval and utilization. Bioinformatics is the science of storing, retrieving and analyzing large amounts of biological information. It is the body of knowledge; a wealth of molecular biology data in which the key resource is knowledge and the key technology in information handling. This mini-review includes a brief history of the development of bioinformatics along with an appraisal of databases and tools available for sequence analysis and the prediction of protein structure and function.