Question

To determine whether regulation of gene expression by short RNAs was a naturally occurring phenomenon, researchers isolated RNA from a cell and fractionated them by size to obtain only short RNAs. The next step was to clone these molecules.
Today the cloning step would not be required. Which of the techniques below is the best reason why?
A. Because a microarray could tell if the fragments were encoded by the genome.
B. Because a PCR reaction could tell if the fragments were encoded by the genome.
C. Because an RNA-seq reaction could tell if the fragments were encoded by the genome.
D. Because a yeast 2 hybrid could tell if the fragments were encoded by the genome.
E. Because a GFP fusion could tell if the fragments were encoded by the genome.

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Because an RNA-seq reaction could tell if the fragments were encoded by the genome.

Explanation:

The combination of single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and bioinformatic tools to assemble and annotate sequence reads is currently the most common methodology used to obtain complete transcriptomes from individual cells. RNA-seq is a Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology that enables the analysis of the entire transcriptome, thereby this method can be used to examine gene, allelic and ncRNA expression. In the last years, RNA-seq has become the gold standard technique for direct analysis of ncRNA expression profiles in biological samples and clinical research.