Differential display

Differential display (also referred to as DDRT-PCR or DD-PCR) is the technique where a researcher can compare and identify changes in gene expression at the mRNA level between any pair of eukaryotic cell samples. The assay may be extended to more than one pair, if needed. The paired samples will have morphological, genetic or other experimental differences for which the researcher wishes to study the gene expression patterns, hoping to elucidate the root cause of the particular difference or specific genes that are affected by the experiment.

The concept of differential display is to use a limited number of short arbitrary primers in combination with the anchored oligo-dT primers to systematically amplify and visualize most of the mRNA in a cell. After its invention in the early 1990s, differential display became a common technique for identifying differentially expressed genes at the mRNA level. Different streamlined DD-PCR protocols have been proposed including fluorescent DD process as well as radioactive labeling, which offers high accuracy and readout.

In the mid-2000s, differential display and RNAse protection assay were superseded by quantitative PCR, DNA Microarrays, and RNA-seq.

Bibliography

• Liang, P. & Pardee, A.B. Differential display of eukaryotic messenger RNA by means of the polymerase chain reaction. Science 257, 967–971 (1992).
• Liang, P. A decade of differential display. Biotechniques 33, 338–346 (2002).
• Liang, P. & Pardee, A.B. Analysing differential gene expression in cancer. Nat. Rev. Cancer 3, 869–876 (2003).

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