Transcriptomics. Flashcards
Define a conctamer?
A strand of cDNA that is formed when multiple cDNA fragments are linked together.
Define a microarray?
A technique that is used to look at gene expression.
Define a macroarray?
A larger version of a microarray.
Define a snapshot?
When a scientific procedure gives results that are only relevant for a specific time.
E.g. Transcriptomics.
Define SNP chips?
Commonly used to detect point mutations.
Define a tiling array?
A technique that is used to look at gene expression across a genome or chromosome.
What is transcriptomics?
The process of analysing all of the mRNA within a cell at a given time.
How does transcriptomics analyse DNA?
It analyses the percentage of the genetic code that is transcribed into mRNA.
Why is transcriptomics context dependent?
As the amount of mRNA within a cell depends on when that cell is analysed.
Why is genomics not context dependent?
Because the number of genes in the organism never changes.
What 4 things does the transcription of DNA into mRNA depend on?
Environment.
Development.
Time of day.
Particular tissue that is being analysed.
What is the major difference between transcriptomics and genomics?
Transcriptomics gives scientists an idea about how genes are expressed within a certain cell or tissue.
Genomics gives an analysis of gene expression throughout the entire body.
What does the study of transcriptomics allow us to compare?
To make compare gene expression in different tissues e.g;
What are 4 comparisons that we can make via the use of transcriptomics?
Different tissues within the same organism e.g. liver cell Vs brain cell.
Same tissues within the same organism e.g. tumour cell Vs non tumour cell.
Same tissues within different organisms e.g. wild type cells Vs mutant cells.
How gene expression changes in certain tissues during development.
What biomolecules will genomics and transcriptomics both study?
The structure and chemical composition of the nucleic acids.
What 3 analytic processes will genomics and transcriptomics use to ananlyse nucleic acids?
Electrophoresis.
Hybridisation.
Sequencing.
What is the biggest challenge of studying RNA strands?
mRNA is very fragile.
How do scientists make mRNA less fragile?
They will use reverse transcriptase to convert coding mRNA back to DNA.
What is one of the major benefits of transcriptomics when referring to mRNA?
It can be used to identify particular classes of mRNA and determine their abundance within the cell.
What are 4 of the major benefits of transcriptomics when referring to specific genes?
It suggests which genes are involved in which biological processes.
It allows scientists to group genes with similar functions together.
It tells scientists which genes are expressed under particular environmental conditions.
It can help to identify genetic markers for disease and to identify changes within the proteome.
What molecular technique is usually used in conjunction with the hybridisation of mRNA?
Northern blot.
What needs to be present for hybridisation processes involving mRNA?
An oligonucleotide containing a sequence of nucleotides identical to a sequence of nucleotides on the cDNA.
What is cDNA formed from?
From the protein coding regions (exons) of mRNA.
How is cDNA made from mRNA?
Via reverse transcription.
What happens during the hybridisation of mRNA after the cDNA has been formed?
The cDNA is spliced by restriction enzymes and will then undergo electrophoresis.
What happens during the hybdrisation of mRNA after the cDNA has been cut into fragments?
The oligonucleotide probe is added.
What happens during the hybridisation of mRNA after the probe has been added to the cDNA fragments?
If the probe hybridises to the cDNA then a fluorescent signal will become visible.
This will tell us that the specific sequence of nucleotides was present within the cDNA.
Why does transcriptomics often utilise the process of PCR?
To amplify sections of coding DNA.
What will scientists do with a piece of cDNA after it has undergone PCR?
They can use individual copies for many different modes of analysis.
What does the reporter gene technique of transcriptomics involve?
It involves the fusion of a gene of interest with a reporter gene which code for certain proteins.
What are 2 common reporter genes that used in transcroptomics?
Luciferase or glucouronidase.
How does the reporter gene technique work?
If any changes occur in the gene of interest then the reporter gene is expressed and acts as a warning.
What industry are reporter genes commonly used in?
In crop farming where the reporter gene will be expressed if the crop has been damaged by insects.
What happens during the hybridisation of mRNA after the cDNA has been formed during the detection of transcriptional changes within a single gene?
The cDNA is spliced by restriction enzymes and will then undergo electrophoresis.
What is the difference between viewing results in a microarray or a macroarray?
Hybridisation results can be clearly seen in a macroarray, whereas they cannot be visualised in a microarray.
What do macroarrays allow for?
For the expression levels of thousands of genes to be detected in a single experiment.
What are the 2 most common sequencing based techniques used when detecting transcriptional changes within multiple genes?
Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE).
Massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS).
Do the sequencing based techniques used for detecting transcriptional changes within multiple genes require any knowledge of the order of nucleotides within the cDNA molecule?
No.
Do the PCR and hybridisation based techniques used in for detecting transcriptional changes within multiple genes require any knowledge of the order of nucleotides within the cDNA molecule?
Yes, as PCR requires the presence of forward and reverse primers.
Hybridisation requires the presence of complimentary probes.
What do MPSS and SAGE and allow scientists to detemrine?
The exact order of nucleotides so that they can can build primers or probes.
Does MPSS and SAGE require knowledege of the coding sequence?
No.
So this technique serves as a universal platform to study any mRNA transcript.
What is the first step of perfroming SAGE analysis?
Removing mRNA from a tissue sample e.g. a tumour or a specific tissue within an organism.
What happens in SAGE after the tissue has been extracted?
It is converted to cDNA.
Restriction enzymes will extract small sequences of DNA from pre-determined positions within the cDNA molecule.