Gene expression profiling

Heat maps of gene expression values show how experimental conditions influenced production (expression) of mRNA for a set of genes. Green indicates reduced expression. Cluster analysis has placed a group of down regulated genes in the upper left corner.

In the field of molecular biology, gene expression profiling is the measurement of the activity (the expression) of thousands of genes at once, to create a global picture of cellular function. These profiles can, for example, distinguish between cells that are actively dividing, or show how the cells react to a particular treatment. Many experiments of this sort measure an entire genome simultaneously, that is, every gene present in a particular cell.

Several transcriptomics technologies can be used to generate the necessary data to analyse. DNA microarrays[1] measure the relative activity of previously identified target genes. Sequence based techniques, like RNA-Seq, provide information on the sequences of genes in addition to their expression level.

  1. ^ "Microarrays Factsheet". Retrieved 2007-12-28.