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By T. Ryan Gregory | September 30th 2009 07:13 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About T. Ryan Gregory

I am an evolutionary biologist specializing in genome size evolution at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Be sure to visit Evolver Zone


... Full Bio

Sometimes it is helpful to have a catchy word to describe one's type of research. I think that's why "omics" words are so popular -- they encapsulate a complex combination of approaches (usually something + genomics, or something-more-than-genomics) in a memorable way that immediately conveys the gist of the field.

"Metagenomics" is a good example -- it's the study of a larger assemblage of genomes than just one, usually from an environmental sample of microbes. "Proteiomics" is another, or "transcriptomics". Of course, this can get out of hand (see here).

However, I think the study of genome size (which predates molecular genetics, let alone genomics) deserves a catchy moniker. The problem is, I haven't really come up with one in the past, so I just end up saying "I study the total amount of DNA in different species of animals, which includes genes and all the other sequences, most of which are non-coding and..." -- well, you get the idea.

People like me study entire genomes -- every component included, be it gene or pseudogene or repeat or transposable element. We also are interested, not in a few model organisms, but in everything (people usually stare blankly when, to the question "which animals do you work on?", I reply "all of them").

But what to call such a discipline?
Proposed neologism: "Omnigenomics"

Etymology: Latin "omnis" (all or everything) + genomics (study of genomes)

Sample usage: "What do you do?" / "Omnigenomics" / "What's that?" / "I study the total amount of DNA in different species of animals, which includes genes and all the other sequences, most of which are non-coding and..."

(The alternative Greek version, "pangenomics", is already being used and sounds way less cool).

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