New Ways to Analyze Genomes
With genome sequencing proceeding at a rapid pace, researchers are faced with a huge task: the location and function of genes. Currently, computer programs are being developed which recognize genes in raw sequence data. To study gene function, scientists have in the past isolated single genes cloned them to be used in further studies of how they function. Looking through thousands of genes on at a time would be a very long and slow process. However, scientists have recently discovered ways to analyze the function of more than one gene at a time.

In one technique, a transposable element called Ty1 is inserted into many genes within the DNA of yeast, thereby mutating the genes and blocking the expression of their product. Yeast with these mutations are then grown along with normal yeast in various environmental conditions. Yeast populations with mutations in one or more genes that play a key role in fitness will begin to die out. Scientists analyze populations at intervals are then able to assess what percentage of the genes on a particular chromosome are involved in various survival processes. In another technique recently developed, the mRNAs of a cell are sorted and labeled and then allowed to bind to different gene fragments. These developments will allow scientists to address many more questions and those of more complex gene expression issues.

Source: "From Genes to Genome Biology" by Elizabeth Pennisi, Science, June 21, 1996