Screening for novel pancreatic genes expressed during embryogenesis.

We have combined suppressive subtractive hybridization with in situ hybridization to identify genes expressed at early stages of pancreas development. By using polymerase chain reaction amplification and subtractive hybridization, this protocol for screening can be applied when the amount of RNA is limited. Seven genes expressed in or adjacent to the pancreas anlage were isolated, three of which show similarity to known genes. The expression pattern and sequence information indicate that some of the genes could govern pancreas development.