Transcriptomics technologies

Transcriptomics technologies are the techniques used to study an organism’s [wp:transcriptome transcriptome], the sum of all of its [wp:RNA RNA transcripts]. The information content of an organism is recorded in the DNA of its [wp:genome genome] and expressed through transcription. Here, [wp:mRNA mRNA] serves as a transient intermediary molecule in the information network, whilst [wp:Non-coding_RNA non-coding RNAs] perform additional diverse functions. A transcriptome captures a snapshot in time of the total transcripts present in a cell.

The first attempts to study the whole transcriptome began in the early 1990s, and technological advances since the late 1990s have made transcriptomics a widespread discipline. Transcriptomics has been defined by repeated technological innovations that transform the field. There are two key contemporary techniques in the field: [wp:microarray microarrays], which quantify a set of predetermined sequences, and [wp:RNA-Seq RNA-Seq], which uses [wp:DNA_sequencing#Next-generation_methods high-throughput sequencing] to capture all sequences.

Measuring the expression of an organism’s [wp:gene genes] in different tissues, conditions, or time points gives information on how genes are [wp:Regulation_of_gene_expression regulated] and reveal details of an organism’s biology. It can also help to infer the [wp:Phenotype functions] of previously unannotated genes. Transcriptomic analysis has enabled the study of how gene expression changes in different organisms and has been instrumental in the understanding of human [wp:disease disease]. An analysis of gene expression in its entirety allows detection of broad coordinated trends which cannot be discerned by more targeted [wp:assay assays].