Transcriptome

set of all RNA molecules in one cell or a population of cells

The transcriptome is the set of all RNA molecules in one cell or a population of cells. RNA transcribes the base sequence from DNA by the process called transcription. The term 'transcriptome' is sometimes used to refer to all RNAs, or just mRNA, depending on the particular experiment.

It includes only those RNA molecules found in a particular cell population. It usually includes the amount or concentration of each RNA molecule, and the molecular identities. It differs from the exome: that refers only to the bits of RNA which do code for proteins.[1]

In the human genome, about 5% of all genes get transcribed into RNA.[2]

The transcriptome is coding mRNA (about 1-4% of its entirety) and non-coding RNAs (the rest). Non-coding RNAs do not give rise to proteins.[3] The number of non-protein-coding sequences increases in more complex organisms.[4]

References

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  1. Wang Z, Gerstein M, Snyder M. 2009. RNA-Seq: a revolutionary tool for transcriptomics. Nature Rev. Genetics 10(1): 57-63.
  2. C Frith, Martin; Pheasant, Michael; S Mattick, John (2005). "Genomics: The amazing complexity of the human transcriptome". European Journal of Human Genetics. 13 (8): 894–897. doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201459. PMID 15970949. S2CID 2836126.
  3. Berg JMTJ, Stryer L. 2002. Biochemistry. New York: W H Freeman
  4. U. Adams, Jill (2008). "Transcriptome: Connecting the genome to gene function". Nature Education. 1 (1): 195.