Long-Short-Long Games in mRNA Identification: The Length Matters

The multiple levels of post-transcriptional processing and million-fold differences in expression levels make fully decoding the transcriptome in any given species extremely challenging. This review addresses the influence of sequenced length on transcriptome decoding under current DNA sequencing capabilities. Comparison of full-length cDNA, EST, 14-base SAGE, 21-LongSAGE, 26-SuperSAGE, and other variations shows that the sequenced length has been a key factor in determining the sensitivity and specificity for mRNA detection.