Newbies Guide to Biopython — Part 1

A simple guide to common functions of Biopython with examples and code

When you hear the word Biopython what is the first thing that came to your mind? A python library to handle biological data…? You are correct! Biopython provides a set of tools to perform bioinformatics computations on biological data such as DNA data and protein data. I have been using Biopython ever since I started studying bioinformatics and it has never let me down with its functions. It is an amazing library which provides a wide range of functions from reading large files with biological data to aligning sequences. In this article, I will introduce you to some basic functions of Biopython which can make implementations much easier with just a single call.

Background image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Getting started

The latest version available when I’m writing this article is biopython-1.77 released in May 2020.

You can install Biopython using pip

pip install biopython

or using conda.

conda install -c conda-forge biopython

You can test whether Biopython is properly installed by executing the following line in the python interpreter.

import Bio