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Quantitative gene expression analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans using single molecule RNA FISH

Publication at First Faculty of Medicine |
2016

Abstract

Advances in fluorescent probe design and synthesis have allowed the uniform in situ labeling of individual RNA molecules. In a technique referred to as single molecule RNA FISH (smRNA FISH), the labeled RNA molecules can be imaged as diffraction-limited spots and counted using image analysis algorithms.

Single RNA counting has provided valuable insights into the process of gene regulation. This microscopy-based method has often revealed a high cell-to-cell variability in expression levels, which has in turn led to a growing interest in investigating the biological significance of gene expression noise.

Here we describe the application of the smRNA FISH technique to samples of Caenorhabditis elegans, a well-characterized model organism.