Absolute quantification of the budding yeast transcriptome by means of competitive PCR between genomic and complementary DNAs
2008

Measuring the Budding Yeast Transcriptome with GATC-PCR

Sample size: 5038 publication 10 minutes Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Miura Fumihito, Kawaguchi Noriko, Yoshida Mikio, Uematsu Chihiro, Kito Keiji, Sakaki Yoshiyuki, Ito Takashi

Primary Institution: University of Tokyo

Hypothesis

Can competitive PCR between genomic DNA and cDNA provide accurate absolute quantification of the budding yeast transcriptome?

Conclusion

The GATC-PCR method revealed that the budding yeast transcriptome contains more than twice the number of mRNAs than previously estimated.

Supporting Evidence

  • The GATC-PCR method allows for accurate measurement of mRNA levels.
  • More than 30,000 copies of mRNA molecules were found per yeast cell.
  • The method can be applied to both targeted and genome-wide analyses.
  • Previous estimates of mRNA levels in yeast were significantly lower than the new findings.
  • The study demonstrated the flexibility of GATC-PCR for various gene sets.

Takeaway

Scientists developed a new method to count how many different types of mRNA are in yeast cells, and they found there are a lot more than they thought before.

Methodology

The study used a method called GATC-PCR to measure the absolute expression levels of mRNAs by comparing genomic DNA and cDNA.

Limitations

The method may not be applicable to organisms with larger and more complex genomes.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2164-9-574

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