Serial Analysis of Gene Expression: Applications in Human Studies

[摘要] Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) is a powerful tool,which provides quantitative and comprehensive expression profileof genes in a given cell population. It works by isolating shortfragments of genetic information from the expressed genes that arepresent in the cell being studied. These short sequences, calledSAGE tags, are linked together for efficient sequencing. Thefrequency of each SAGE tag in the cloned multimers directlyreflects the transcript abundance. Therefore, SAGE results in anaccurate picture of gene expression at both the qualitative andthe quantitative levels. It does not require a hybridizationprobe for each transcript and allows new genes to be discovered.This technique has been applied widely in human studies andvarious SAGE tags/SAGE libraries have been generated fromdifferent cells/tissues such as dendritic cells, lung fibroblastcells, oocytes, thyroid tissue, B-cell lymphoma, culturedkeratinocytes, muscles, brain tissues, sciatic nerve, culturedSchwann cells, cord blood-derived mast cells, retina, macula,retinal pigment epithelial cells, skin cells, and so forth. Inthis review we present the updated information on theapplications of SAGE technology mainly to human studies.

[学科分类] 基础医学