Representational difference analysis

Representational difference analysis (RDA) is a technique used in biological research to find sequence differences in two genomic or cDNA samples. Genomes or cDNA sequences from two samples (i.e. cancer sample and a normal sample) are PCR amplified and differences analyzed using subtractive DNA hybridization. This technology has been further enhanced through the development of representation oligonucleotide microarray analysis (ROMA), which uses array technology to perform such analyses. This method may also be adapted to detect DNA methylation differences, as seen in methylation-sensitive representational difference analysis (MS-RDA).