Reaping the high hanging fruits of gene expression
GenXPro's SuperTAG technology is a substantially improved version of the patented SuperSAGE method.
GenXPro's SuperTAG technology defines
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what gene is transcribed,
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how many times the gene is transcribed,
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and into what transcript isoforms it is transcribed,
by analysing and counting a diagnostic "tag"-sequence specific for each individual mRNA
of any eukaryotic organism's cells, tissues or organs, independently of the knowledge
of the genome (-> non-model organisms).
This „open architecture“ approach has numerous advantages over most microarray-platforms, since any transcript, known or unknown, can be identified and exactly quantified (->"counted not measured").
Due to new revolutionary sequencing technologies, SuperTAG now allows to analyse transcriptomes at an extremely deep scale, visualizing rarest transcripts for a very reasonable price.
Together, SuperTAG combines the advantages of the open architecture system as e.g. SAGE™ with an
increased specificity of the tag—gene annotation, making it ideal for the analysis of unknown genomes and the identification of new transcripts.
Unequivocal annotation of the corresponding gene
The 26 bp tag is highly specific and can exactly be annotated to the corresponding gene with an e-value of 3-e005 in the NCBI Blast db.
Many transcript isoforms from one gene, or members of a gene family can be discovered.
Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) of both the cis- and the trans-type can be detected.
Highly specific primer and probe design for downstream applications
Any unknown transcript represented as a 26 bp tag can be studied in more detail via downstream PCR techniques, like 3' and 5'RACE or chromosome walking. Generally, the Tm of a 26 bp product is in the range of 50-70°C, allowing for highly specific PCR priming conditions. Alternatively, the highly specific tag can be used as probe to identify colonies within a cloned gene- or cDNA-bank.
Superior to micorarrays
SuperTAG overcomes the major drawbacks of most microarrays.
Analysis of host-parasite interactions
The precise annotation allows to simultaneously decipher the interplay of the transcriptomes of two or more organisms as e.g. a host and a parasite in their natural environments (Matsumura et. al., 2003) or to study transcriptomes of xeno-graft model systems.