Open AccessAnalysis of the Size Distribution of First-Strand cDNA Molecules
Author(s) -
Myriam Bodescot,
Olivier Brison
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
biotechniques/biotechniques
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.617
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1940-9818
pISSN - 0736-6205
DOI - 10.2144/97226st04
Subject(s) - complementary dna , microbiology and biotechnology , polyadenylation , messenger rna , northern blot , biology , agarose gel electrophoresis , southern blot , agarose , gene , gel electrophoresis , nucleic acid thermodynamics , gene expression , rna , genetics
We have developed a method to analyze the size distribution of the first-strand cDNA molecules corresponding to given mRNA species. First-strand molecules synthesized from cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNAs are separated by electrophoresis on an alkaline agarose gel, and a Southern blot hybridization is performed. As an example, we analyzed the first-strand molecules corresponding to the human c-myc mRNAs. This method can be used to determine whether full-length, first-strand molecules corresponding to an mRNA species to be cloned are synthesized efficiently. Interestingly, this method allows one to analyze full-length, first-strand cDNA molecules with a much higher resolution than Northern blot analysis of mRNA molecules. This method can therefore be used to discriminate between the multiple mRNA species transcribed from a given gene or the homologous mRNA species transcribed from a given gene family.