title: A large quantity of novel human antisense transcripts detected by LongSAGE.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Taking advantage of the high sensitivity and specificity of LongSAGE tag for transcript detection and genome mapping, we analyzed the 632 813 unique human LongSAGE tags deposited in public databases to identify novel human antisense transcripts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study identified 45 321 tags that match the antisense strand of 9804 known mRNA sequences, 6606 of which contain antisense ESTs and 3198 are mapped only by SAGE tags. Quantitative analysis showed that the detected antisense transcripts are present at levels lower than their counterpart sense transcripts. Experimental results confirmed the presence of antisense transcripts detected by the antisense tags. We also constructed an antisense tag database that can be used to identify the antisense SAGE tags originated from the antisense strand of known mRNA sequences included in the RefSeq database.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study highlights the benefits of exploring SAGE data for comprehensive identification of human antisense transcripts and demonstrates the prevalence of antisense transcripts in the human genome.
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Genomics, Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, ENH Research Institute, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine 1001 University Place, Evanston, IL 60201 USA.
authors.forename: Xijin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Qingfa
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yong-Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: San Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D016373:DNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016373:DNA, Antisense; D014157:Transcription Factors