Gene expression and transcript profiling involves determining the pattern of genes expressed at the transcriptional level under specific circumstances by measuring the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. This allows one to understand cellular function. Common techniques for profiling include DNA microarrays, RNA sequencing, and EST tags. DNA microarrays involve hybridizing cDNA or cRNA samples to probes on a chip to determine relative abundance of sequences. RNA sequencing uses next-generation sequencing to reveal presence and quantity of RNA in a sample.
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