From Library Screening to Microarray Technology: Strategies to Determine Gene Expression Profiles and to Identify Differentially Regulated Genes in Plants

Hybridization to DNA microarrays and high density membrane filters, serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), the cDNA-AFLP technique, restriction fragment-coupled differential display (RC4D), differential display reverse transcription PCR (DDRT-PCR) and also the differential screening of standard and subtracted cDNA libraries are techniques being used extensively to determine transcription patterns or to identify differentially regulated genes in plants and other organisms. In this review, commonly used display systems are evaluated and compared. The general principles on which the different techniques are based and which determine their potential and their limitations are described. Performance aspects of each method are discussed, and existing applications of each method are briefly surveyed. Some typical examples are considered to illustrate how differential display systems have been applied to plants and to what extent these techniques have contributed to our understanding of plant gene expression.