Top : Genetics & Genomics : Gene Expression : Expressed Sequence Tag (EST)

Summary: ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tag) are "single-pass" cDNA sequences. EST experiment is type of expression analysis, just like RT-PCR, Northern, SAGE, and microarray. They all study gene expression. To generate ESTs, you first create a cDNA library from cell or tissue, then pick hundreds or thousands of clones from the library and sequence the clone (just one pass, no validation, no full length sequence, usually from polyA tail, but can also sequence from 5' and the middle.