GENERAL GENOMICS SERVICE - GENE EXPRESSION UNIT

DNA and real-time PCR or quantitative PCR micro-ray technology is of great use to research and the development of products in areas related to Biomedicine, Biosciences, microbiology, veterinary medicine, agriculture, pharmacology, biotechnology and toxicology.

Below we wish to draw attention to some of the applications available using microarray and real-time PCR technology.

Real-time PCR or qPCR applications

• Quantification of gene expression
• Validation of microarray data
• Detection of pathogens (human, animal or plant)
• Quantification of microRNAs
• Identification of bacterial strains, yeasts and fungi
• Identification of species with a high degree of homology
• Quantification of viral load
• Detection and quantification of methylated DNA
• Allelic discrimination and genotyping
  • Diagnosis: detection of specific mutations
  • Analysis of number of copies of genes, chromosomal regions and detection of aneuploidia
  • Identification of chromosomal alterations (microdeletions, translocations)
  • Analysis of haplotypes (SNPs)
  • Analysis of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) with microsatellites
  • Pre-natal diagnosis via foetal blood contained in mother's blood, and pre-implantational analysis
  • Pre-symptomatic diagnosis
  • Monitoring of minimum residual disease (leukaemias) following bone marrow transplant (detection limit lower than a tumour cell by 105 cells)
  • Monitoring of chimerism following bone marrow transplant
• Forensic studies: estimation of the number of copies of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA and assessment of the extent of DNA degradation, determining gender
• Detection and quantification of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs)

Applications using microarray technology

• Determining gene expression profiles in different tissues: stages of development, types of treatment, chemical or environmental stimuli, patients vs. healthy individuals, etc,. in organisms as diverse as bacteria, archeobacteria, fungi, plants, animals and humans
• Determining variation in the number of copies of chromosomal sequences: array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH)
• Genotyping of SNPs and studies involving association
• Analysis of promoters: Chip-chip, Chip-on-chip. This enables analyses of DNA-protein interaction to be carried out (transcription factors, protein modifiers, nucleosomes)
• Epigenetic studies: analysis of DNA methylation patterns using CpG Island microarrays
• Studies of microRNA expression profiles

Micro-ray experiments are useful in numerous and diverse areas of science. Some of these are described below:

• Basic Research: Biology, Ecology and Physiology: developmental biology; functional characterization of genes; studies concerning gene regulation
• Human health: characterization of molecular mechanisms; identification of genes and variants of susceptibility to complex diseases; molecular classification of diseases; molecular diagnosis; identification of markers with prognostic and predictive value; identification of new therapeutic targets; monitoring of response to drugs in developing new therapies and drugs
• Environmental and agricultural biotechnology
• Industrial biotechnology: development of new strains
• Detection of pathogens, genetically-modified organisms
• Diagnosis in veterinary medicine
• Environmental monitoring
• Toxicogenomics: identifying expression profiles associated with specific composite and toxic determinants.