Gene Expression Profiling

Wikipedia defines gene expression profiling as the measurement of the activity (the expression) of thousands of genes at once, to create a global picture of cellular function. These profiles can, for example, distinguish between cells that are actively dividing, or show how the cells react to a particular treatment. Many experiments of this sort measure an entire genome simultaneously, that is, every gene present in a particular cell.

In other words it is the Map of a cell at a certain state. Recently, we are hearing news about cancer cell maps, heart disease cell maps, etc,etc.

All these maps are computerized information of gene expression. These maps are bit by bit images of the cell state of interest. The difference between the normal cell map and diseased cell map tells us a lot about the disease.

There are two technologies used for gene expression profiling; microarray technology and RNA-sequencing.

Microarray technology measures the relative activity of previously identified target genes. Microarray technology does not discover novel genes. On the other hand RNA-sequencing technology has both the capacity of discovering novel RNAs and quantifying the RNAs.

RNA-sequencing technology is promising for the future. Many thanks to information technology.

Relevant Source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...