High-resolution expression profiling of selected gene sets during plant immune activation (bioRxiv)

The problem with gene expression profiling is that it preferentially reports on the more highly-expressed genes. Capture sequencing uses targeted sequence libraries to pull out transcripts from genes of interest, including lowly expressed genes, so that their signals aren’t overwhelmed. To explore gene expression early in plant defense responses, Ding, Ngou et al. describe the production of a biotinylated single-strand RNA bait library targeted to to a subset of defense genes in order to better quantify their expression levels. The authors validated their protocol using a wide variety of mutants and mock treatments, demonstrating its specificity and selectivity. (Summary by Mary Williams) bioRxiv 10.1101/775973