Gene array analysis
Gene array analysis: A way of analyzing the differential expression of thousands of species of mRNA (messenger RNA) at the same time in two different samples (as, for example, in normal vs. tumor tissue, or at different developmental stages). Gene array analysis involves synthesizing labeled cDNA (complementary DNA) from 2 or more sources, and hybridizing them to identical gene arrays. This procedure can be done in standard molecular biology laboratories with basic instrumentation.
Gene array analysis is an extraordinarily powerful tool in molecular biology today and is expected to shape the molecular medicine of tomorrow. Many diseases will be defined in a “customized” fashion according to the array of genes in the particular patient affected. Not only diseases, but also optimal treatments, will be put into discrete categories according to the diagnostic gene array of the person being evaluated. Medicine will not be practiced in the same way in 2050 as it was in 2000, thanks in part to gene array analysis.
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- Gene deletion
Gene deletion: The total loss or absence of a gene. Gene deletion plays a role in birth defects and in the development of cancer.
- Gene duplication
Gene duplication: An extra copy of a gene. Gene duplication is a key mechanism in evolution. After a gene is duplicated, the once-identical genes can undergo changes and diverge to create two different genes.
- Gene expression
Gene expression: The translation of information encoded in a gene into protein or RNA structures that are present and operating in the cell. Expressed genes include genes that are transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) and then translated into protein, as well as genes that are transcribed into RNA, such as transfer and ribosomal RNAs, but […]
- Gene family
Gene family: A group of genes that are related in structure and often in function. The genes in a gene family are descended from an ancestral gene. For example, the hemoglobin genes belong to one gene family that was created by gene duplication and divergence.
- Gene mapping
Gene mapping: The charting of the positions of genes on a DNA molecule or chromosome and the distance, in linkage units or physical units, between genes.