Quantitation of beta-tubulin mRNA in mouse brain by RNA-RNA hybridization kinetics with single-stranded riboprobes.

A quantitative procedure involving RNA-RNA hybridization kinetics was developed for measurement of specific mRNA accumulated in particular tissues and cells. Two types of riboprobes for quantitating mouse beta-tubulin mRNA were prepared; one was a truncated RNA covering only the coding portion of beta-tubulin cDNA and the other was a non-truncated RNA covering the vector portion as well as the coding portion. These antisense RNAs were hybridized with the mouse brain RNA, yielding heat-stable hybrids. The truncated and non-truncated antisense RNA probes showed similar hybridization kinetics. Hybridization of the sense RNA, consisting of the beta-tubulin coding portion, with the antisense RNA probe gave standards for determining the proportion of beta-tubulin mRNA in total brain RNA. By this method, the amounts of beta-tubulin mRNA included in the brains of mice of 10 and 50 days old were quantitated.