Analysis of Retinal Development and Diseases Using RNA-Seq.

Copyright: © 2012 Cai L, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Before the introduction of the high throughput mRNA sequencing method (RNA-seq), genome-wide gene expression studies largely relied on DNA microarray [1], SAGE (Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) [2], CAGE (Cap Analysis of Gene Expression) [3-5], and MPSS (Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing) [6], etc. These technologies were limited by their ability to analyze only a portion of the transcriptome [7]. RNAseq analysis provides a new strategy for transcriptome profiling that can reveal more complex information on expression levels, differential splicing, allele-specific expression, RNA editing and fusion transcripts resulted from chromosome translocations, etc., [7,8]. With RNAseq analysis, a complete genome-wide transcriptional architecture of genes can be characterized, which is central for the understanding of development, physiology and diseases.