The Value of Studying a Transcriptome Rather Than a Genome

Question

The value of studying a transcriptome rather than a genome is that
A) RNA is much easier to work with than DNA.
B) using bacterial RNA eliminates the introns they all have.
C) one can get a snapshot of what genes are expressed under some conditions but not others.
D) a transcriptome is more related to the protein.
E) deep sequencing can only be performed on RNA.

Accepted Answer

Studying a transcriptome allows us to see which genes are actively being expressed under certain conditions, providing a snapshot of the functional genes in a cell or tissue. This information cannot be obtained from simply sequencing the genome, which only tells us the potential genes that could be expressed. Additionally, RNA sequencing can allow for the detection of alternative splicing, gene fusion events, and other post-transcriptional modifications that can affect gene expression and protein function.