Figure 1.

Flanking PCR is more sensitive at detecting exons using random hexamer primed cDNA templates than with oligo-dT primed templates. (A) Flanking PCRs were designed with forward and reverse primers targeted to the constitutive exons flanking the alternative cassette exons. (B) A subset of 12 alternative exons tested with the flanking PCR approach and the two different methods of priming RT. The oligo-dT primed experiment detected four alternative exons (lanes 2,3,4 and 5) in comparison to the random hexamer primed experiment that detected eight (lanes 2,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 11). DNA ladder λ shows 25 bp, 50 bp, 75 bp 100 bp, then 50 bp increments to 350 bp, then 500 bp and 766 bp. The strongest band represents 200 bp.