Assessing which genes are active in a given tissue at a specific time, and determining the relative degree of gene activity are essential steps in understanding how the genome as a whole functions within the tissue or cell under investigation. The term "transcriptome" refers to the set of genes that are expressed or transcribed from genomic DNA in a particular cell or tissue. An understanding of the transcriptome translates into an understanding of the activity and roles of the proteins that these genes encode. For technical reasons however, it is much easier to work with DNA than with RNA. Therefore, researchers synthesize cDNA, which is a DNA copy of mRNA, in vitro. This produces a highly versatile tool that can be used to study gene regulation, expression, splice variation, post-translational modifications, and protein-protein interactions. Changes in patterns of gene expression provide valuable information about the causes and consequences of disease, ...
Premade cDNA Libraries
Suppliers of Whole-organism cDNA Libraries Suppliers of Tissue-specific cDNA Libraries The questions of gene function, interaction, and regulation are central to the science of molecular biology. Despite the myriad of new technologies, products, and techniques produced by the genomics revolution, some old standards remain just as useful as ever. One such technology is the cDNA (complementary DNA) library. The sheer number of companies offering premade and custom cDNA libraries and products th
Written bySarah Goforth
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