What is Transcriptomics?
Transcriptomics is the study of an organism's transcriptome: the collection of the transcription products of the genes of a given organism. By employing transcriptomic techniques to analyze the transcriptomes of cells within an organism, the transcriptional structures (transcription initiation site, termination site, 5' cap, 3' poly-A tail, splice pattern) and expression levels of genes of interest can be determined. [1] As the number of different transcriptomes are much greater than genomes, proteomes, or metabolomes, understanding the function and mechanisms of transcriptomes may provide valuable information regarding regulatory mechanisms within a cell that other areas of biology may not be able to determine.
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RNA-seqRNA-seq is a technology utilized by transcriptomic studies that analyze the transcriptional structures and expression levels of genes by sequencing the RNA bases using high throughput methods: technologies such as Illumina or other next gen sequencing techniques. [1]
RNA-seq is performed by extracting RNA products from a cell or an organism, fragmenting either the RNA products or the cDNA created from the RNA products, sequencing the obtained fragments, and then analyzing the data obtained. |
Discussion
As FOXE1 is a transcription factor, its plays a role in the regulation of transcription and subsequently gene expression. By utilizing RNA-seq on WT mice and FOXE1 mutant mice, differences in gene expression levels can be detected. This information can be used to identify genes that may be involved in thyroid morphogenesis and how FOXE1 regulates the expression of these genes.
References
[1] Wang Z, Gerstein M, Snyder M. RNA-Seq: a revolutionary tool for transcriptomics. Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Jan;10(1):57-63. doi: 10.1038/nrg2484
[1] Wang Z, Gerstein M, Snyder M. RNA-Seq: a revolutionary tool for transcriptomics. Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Jan;10(1):57-63. doi: 10.1038/nrg2484
Image References
[1] http://www.awesome-u.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/genetics.jpg
[1] http://www.awesome-u.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/genetics.jpg