IDENTIFYING CHANGES IN GENE-EXPRESSION IN THE NERVOUS-SYSTEM - MESSENGER-RNA DIFFERENTIAL DISPLAY

The majority of cellular and developmental processes are characterized by changes in gene expression. Recently, several polymerase chain rea ction-based methods have been introduced for detecting genes whose exp ressions differ between cells or tissues. It is now possible to invest igate whether novel gene expression occurs within many systems as a re sponse to extracellular signals, and to identify systematically those genes. The characterization of cell-, tissue- or stage-specific gene e xpression will broaden our understanding of many complex biological pr ocesses.