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High throughput investigative dermatology in 2012 and beyond: A new era beckons
Author(s) -
Gilmore Stephen J
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
australasian journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.67
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1440-0960
pISSN - 0004-8380
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-0960.2012.00883.x
Subject(s) - computational biology , dna microarray , microarray , rna , disease , transcriptome , gene chip analysis , biology , throughput , gene expression , gene , medicine , bioinformatics , genetics , computer science , pathology , telecommunications , wireless
High throughput molecular biology began around the mid‐1990s with the introduction of microarrays – a technology that enabled investigators to quantify the cellular expression levels of tens of thousands of mRNA transcripts simultaneously. To date, a large number of microarray experiments have been performed in the investigation of RNA expression signatures in normal and pathological tissues. This review focuses on a next generation tool in high throughput investigation: RNA sequencing or RNA‐Seq, highlighting its advantages over traditional microarray investigation and discussing its utility in investigative dermatology. In contrast with the results obtained from microarray experiments, RNA‐Seq generates mRNA abundance counts, can identify novel transcripts and splice variants, and provides sequence resolution at the level of single base‐pairs. Implementing RNA‐Seq in the investigation of skin disease will yield novel insights into the pathogenesis of disease, will facilitate the discovery of new diseases and new mechanisms of disease, and will allow researchers to probe genetic disease in high resolution and with unprecedented efficiency.