I want to analyze a time-course gene expression after adding some stimulus. For the person who has no experience with Northern blot or qPCR, which method would be easier to learn? What method could give me more reliable results?
qPCR is easier to perform and requires less time. On the other hand Nothern blot is a bit tedious to perform, consumes more time but more reliable. If you want to analyze expression of a single gene, go with the Northern blot but if your purpose is to see the expression profile of a no. of genes then Northern blotting will be tedious and tricky because Tm for different genes and corresposidng probes might be different and you will have to play with different hybridization temp. Whereas in qPCR you can run the PCR at the same time at different Tm using gradient thermocycler. That is why qPCR scores over Northern blotting in transcriptome studies.
good luck,
Sudhir,
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