Serial Analysis of Gene Expression
Serial Analysis of Gene Expression
Expression
•Ken Kinzler
Drummer
•Bert Vogelstein
Keyboard
•Lin Zhang
Honorary member
Current Research
Victor Velculescu: Dept. of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University.
-New therapeutic targets for colon cancer
Lin Zhang: Dept. of Pharmacology, University of Pittsburg.
-genetic basis of differential sensitivity to anticancer drugs, as well
as the genetic alterations in cancer cells that cause drug resistance
Bert Vogelstein: Dept. of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University.
-Identification and characterization of oncogenes.
Ken Kinzler: Dept. of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University.
Aim of This Paper
•Provide researchers with a means to study expression of an entire
genome rather than single genes
•To create a method of comparing gene expression differences
between two samples with information about abundance of
transcripts
•To illustrate effectiveness of this technique by examining
pancreatic gene expression patterns
•To confirm the quantitative nature of the novel technique through
library screening
Major Findings
•Developed a new technique to study gene expression that is
capable of quantitative analysis of an entire genome
•Characterized gene expression in human pancreas
•Used SAGE to identify novel cDNA transcripts
SAGE: Based on 2 principles
1. A 9 bp tag is sufficient to unambiguously identify a
gene
2. Concatenation (linking together) of these short DNA
sequences increases the efficiency of identifying unique
transcripts in a serial manner.
Methods
1. mRNA cDNA
2. Cleave with A.E
3. Isolate 3’ most
transcript of each
cDNA by binding to
Streptavidin beads
4. Divide cDNA in half
5. Ligate to 1 of 2 linkers
(each with a T.E site)
6. Ligate the two pools of
tags together….
• High-throughput
• Allows for simultaneous
detection of genome-wide
expression
• Can provide relative
quantitative information about
expression…
Microarray vs. SAGE
C. elegans temporal & Tissue-Specific
Expression Profiling Project
•About 1.9 million C.elegans tags sequenced to date
•Several libraries have been completed, including:
Embryo, all larval stages, Young and old adult, sterile
adult, microdissected gut tissue, FACS-sorted muscle
cells, and FACS embryonic intestinal cells
•Several libraries are in progress, including: FACS-
sorted pan-neural cells, FACS-sorted ciliated neurons,
FACS pharynx, and FACS hypodermal cells
Long SAGE vs. Short SAGE
•A comparison of short SAGE (14bp) vs. long SAGE (21bp)
•Some tags are not unambiguously assigned to a gene (similar 3’
ends due to ancestral duplications)
•About 12% of C. elegans tags are not unambiguously identified
using 14bp tags
•Results of empirical data suggests that LongSAGE gives far
greater resolution, but at an increased cost.
Why is this paper a landmark?
1. New technique for quantitative
analysis of gene expression
2. Identified novel transcripts in
pancreatic samples
3. Has allowed for the
characterization of gene
expression, both temporally and
spatially, in several organisms
4. Currently is being used to study
disease (i.e. cancer) gene
expression
sciencepark.mdanderson.org/
ggeg/SAGE_technique.htm
References
•Velculescu, V., Zhang, L., Vogelstein, B. Kinzler, K. (1995).
“Serial Analysis of Gene Expression” Science 270 (5235)
•Reinke, V. (2002). “Functional Expolation of the C. elegans
Genome Using DNA Microarrays”. Nature Genetics 32