Gene Expression Profiling - Gene Annotation

Gene Annotation

While the statistics may reliably identify which gene products change under experimental conditions, making biological sense of expression profiling rests on knowing which protein each gene product makes and what function this protein performs. Gene annotation provides functional and other information, for example the location of each gene within a particular chromosome. Some functional annotations are more reliable than others; some are absent. Gene annotation databases change regularly, and various databases refer to the same protein by different names, reflecting a changing understanding of protein function. Use of standardized gene nomenclature helps address the naming aspect of the problem, but exact matching of transcripts to genes remains an important consideration.