Differential display

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Differential display, also referred to as DDRT-PCR or DD-PCR in PCR nomenclature, is the technique where a researcher can identify and analyze altered gene expression at the mRNA level in any eukaryotic cell. A researcher will study at least two samples, but many more can be studied if the experiment suggests so. These samples will have morphological, genetic or other experimental differences for which the researcher wishes to study the gene expression patterns, hoping to elucidate the root cause of the particular difference or specific genes that are affected by the experiment. Samples can be from any eukaryotic organism, including plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, yeast, fungi and mammals.

The concept of differential display is to use a limited number of short arbitrary primers in combination with the anchored oligo-dT primers to systematically amplify and visualize most of the mRNA in a cell. Since its invention in the early 1990s, differential display has become one of the most commonly used techniques for identifying differentially expressed genes at the mRNA level. Unlike other genomic approaches, such as DNA microarrays, DD systematically detects changes in mRNA profiles among multiple samples being compared without the need of any prior knowledge of genomic information of the living organism being studied.

Different streamlined DD-PCR protocols have been proposed including fluorescent DD process as well as radioactive labeling, which offers high accuracy and readout.

[edit] References

  • 1. Liang, P. & Pardee, A.B. Differential display of eukaryotic messenger RNA by means of the polymerase chain reaction. Science 257, 967–971 (1992).
  • 2. Liang, P. A decade of differential display. Biotechniques 33, 338–346 (2002).
  • 3. Liang, P. & Pardee, A.B. Analysing differential gene expression in cancer. Nat. Rev. Cancer 3, 869–876 (2003).