METHOD TO DETECT GENE POLYMORPHISMS AND MONITOR ALLELIC EXPRESSION EMPLOYING A PROBE ARRAY

摘要

The invention provides methods of monitoring expression levels of different polymorphic forms of a gene. Such methods entail analyzing genomic DNA from an individual to determine the presence of heterozygous polymorphic forms at a polymorphic site within a transcribed sequence of a gene of interest. RNA from a tissue of the individual in which the gene is expressed is then analyzed to determine relative proportions of polymorphic forms in transcript of the gene. Having identified alleles of a gene that are expressed at different levels, the alleles can be further analyzed to locate a second polymorphism that has a causative role in the different expression levels. The methods are amenable to analyzing large collections of genes simultaneously using arrays of immobilized probes.