Definitely RT-PCR is more sensitive, so you can check the level of expression for lower expressed genes. More information you can find in paper for example
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1671292711600126
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~thsiang/pubs/pdf/02rtpcr_pmbr.pdf
Magdalena is right: a well-designed qPCR assay is much more sensitive, so you can detect lower levels of expression and/or use lower RNA input quantities. Depending on the detection reagents and system, a melting curve can be done following the reactions to assess the presence of multiple products. If enough RNA is available, though, and with proper probe selection, a Northern might still provide valuable information on RNA size(s) and multiple spliceforms.
you can combine the sensitivity of a PCR and specificity of northern blot if you perform a RT-PCR followed by a reverse dot blot
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