Distributed BioSensors in Genetically Modified crop trial monitoring

1. The latest release statistics from the two major biological databases shown in Figure 1 show that the trend for information generation has been linear in the case of protein, but exponential for the addition of sequence data. This disparity is largely due to the method of data acquisition (DNA sequencing has, for the last five or so years been largely automated), but the trend is obvious in both cases and set to continue. There is speculation that now the human and certain other genomes have been completed, that the need for DNA sequencing would diminish. This conjecture is incorrect as the expansion in DNA data acquisition will continue, if not exceed current tendencies. This increase will be due, in part, to new sequencing technologies increasing the usability of DNA sequencing in everyday diagnostic processes such as drug choice and prescription as well as pre-clinical cohort screening. The increase in protein database entries is apparently increasing at a lower rate than DNA because the complexity of protein analysis does not allow the automation of proteomic systems. However, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) systems are now gradually being replaced by higher throughput capillary and microchip systems in pharmaceutical and biotechnology laboratories, and this trend will continue in the future. If the amount of Proteomic and Genomic information being gathered continues to grow at current or increased rates new technologies that will further increase this already phenomenal rate of data acquisition must have an inherent structured data handling function. Biotechnology is moving towards the use of small, cheap instruments and sensors connected using distributed systems technologies. This nascent distributed system can use a concomitant GRID architecture to acquire, collate and analyse the data from each biosensor. Distributed Protein Analysis Systems can, for example, be used to monitor the possible spread of GM in crops, by identification of marker proteins. This data, collated with data such as meteorological and geographic factors, can be used to advise the appropriate authorities of any release or other problems aiding rapid decision-making.