Applied Category Theory for Genomics -- An Initiative

TL;DR

This paper advocates for using applied category theory to integrate and understand complex genomic data, aiming to enhance our systematic knowledge of genome architecture in a way accessible to both mathematicians and biologists.

Contribution

It introduces applied category theory as a novel framework for genomics and demonstrates its potential through initial, accessible steps for interdisciplinary understanding.

Findings

Category theory offers a promising framework for genomics.

Initial steps show how category theory can model genome organization.

The approach is designed to be accessible to both mathematicians and biologists.

Abstract

The ultimate secret of all lives on earth is hidden in their genomes -- a totality of DNA sequences. We currently know the whole genome sequence of many organisms, while our understanding of the genome architecture on a systematic level remains rudimentary. Applied category theory opens a promising way to integrate the humongous amount of heterogeneous informations in genomics, to advance our knowledge regarding genome organization, and to provide us with a deep and holistic view of our own genomes. In this work we explain why applied category theory carries such a hope, and we move on to show how it could actually do so, albeit in baby steps. The manuscript intends to be readable to both mathematicians and biologists, therefore no prior knowledge is required from either side.