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Two techniques published in Science will allow gene sequencers to begin to find out what the genes do, based on the rationale that the amount of gene sequence isolated from a tissue reflects the gene's degree of activation. The pattern of gene expression then can be compared among tissues to begin to see what genes are crucial to various physiologic and disease states.
The first technique, called sequential analysis of gene expression, or SAGE, uses sequences from the same position within each gene. Sequences as short as nine base pairs are sufficient to uniquely identify most genes, researchers from Johns Hopkins University wrote. And even manual sequencing in small labs can start to get a handle on the functional roles coded within a database of complementary DNA sequences. ...