Characterization of RNA

Gene expression profiling of mRNA in the brain and the peripheral blood, is increasingly important to validate diagnostic and prognostic signatures of disease and prediction of outcome, as well as support pharmacogenomic approaches to novel treatment strategies. Variation of gene expression is an integral mechanism underlying susceptibility to complex disease and is directly modified by polymorphisms in regulatory elements. Thus, the study of gene expression profiles that correlate with DNA variants is a powerful and complementary approach to the detection of novel risk loci. In this chapter, we discuss current methods for mRNA isolation and purification from the peripheral blood and the brain. We also describe accepted and novel methods for mRNA characterization (e.g., Microarrays, RNA sequencing, Northern blots, and RT-PCR) with applicability to human disease.