Differential display of mRNA by PCR

This unit outlines the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based technique of mRNA differential display, which identifies genes that are differentially expressed between cells or tissues. The approach described here is a modification of the original method, referred to as single base-anchored differential display. The basic protocol describes the actual differential display PCR reaction along with details of the identification, reamplification, and cloning of candidate differentially expressed genes. The support protocol provides instructions on removing contaminating genomic DNA from the RNA samples and reverse transcribing the purified RNA to produce the cDNA used in the subsequent PCR reactions.