Introduction to the Gene Expression Analysis.

In 1941, Beadle and Tatum published experiments that would explain the basis of the central dogma of molecular biology, whereby the DNA through an intermediate molecule, called RNA, results proteins that perform the functions in cells. Currently, biomedical research attempts to explain the mechanisms by which develops a particular disease, for this reason, gene expression studies have proven to be a great resource. Strictly, the term "gene expression" comprises from the gene activation until the mature protein is located in its corresponding compartment to perform its function and contribute to the expression of the phenotype of cell.The expression studies are directed to detect and quantify messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of a specific gene. The development of the RNA-based gene expression studies began with the Northern Blot by Alwine et al. in 1977. In 1969, Gall and Pardue and John et al. independently developed the in situ hybridization, but this technique was not employed to detect mRNA until 1986 by Coghlan. Today, many of the techniques for quantification of RNA are deprecated because other new techniques provide more information. Currently the most widely used techniques are qPCR, expression microarrays, and RNAseq for the transcriptome analysis. In this chapter, these techniques will be reviewed.

Real-Time PCR for Gene Expression Quantification in Asthma.

The quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) has become the reference technique for studying gene expression in recent years. The application of qPCR to the study of asthma provides very useful information regarding the gene expression mechanisms. The quantification of RNA from cDNA can be performed by using fluorescent dyes or specific sequence probes. Here, we describe the protocol to quantify gene expression levels using SYBR Green as fluorescent dye. The protocol starts with the RNA extraction, followed by reverse transcription to obtain cDNA, quantification and finally data analysis.

Validation of Reference Genes in mRNA Expression Analysis Applied to the Study of Asthma.

The quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction is the most used technique for the study of gene expression. To correct putative experimental errors of this technique is necessary normalizing the expression results of the gene of interest with the obtained for reference genes. Here, we describe an example of the process to select reference genes. In this particular case, we select reference genes for expression studies in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of asthmatic patients.