The mature cereal seed transcriptome

Understanding the gene expression profile of the dry seed of both barley and wheat is important to fully understand the physiological interactions occurring within the seed. Although a vast amount of knowledge has been accumulated on seed dormancy and germination, many of the processes involved remain a mystery. By examining the types of transcripts expressed at any time in the cell and the level of expression, it is possible to determine which genes and their related proteins are being expressed at that moment in time. SAGE (Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) is a technique that allows rapid, detailed analysis of thousands of transcripts in a cell. The process of SAGE relies on two principles. Firstly, a small sequence of nucleotides from the transcript, called a “tag” can effectively identify the original transcript from whence it came. Secondly, linking these tags allows rapid sequencing analysis of multiple transcripts.