The contribution of 700,000 ORF sequence tags to the definition of the human transcriptome
Authors: Camargo Anamaria A. , Samaia Helena P. B. , Dias-Neto Emmanuel , Simão Daniel F. , Migotto Italo A. , Briones Marcelo R. S. , Costa Fernando F. , Aparecida Nagai Maria , Verjovski-Almeida Sergio , Zago Marco A. , Andrade Luis Eduardo C. , Carrer Helaine , El-Dorry Hamza F. A. , Espreafico Enilza M. , Habr-Gama Angelita , Giannella-Neto Daniel , Goldman Gustavo H. , Gruber Arthur , Hackel Christine , Kimura Edna T. , Maciel Rui M. B. , Marie Suely K. N. , Martins Elizabeth A. L. , Nóbrega Marina P. , Paçó-Larson Maria Luisa , Pardini Maria Inês M. C. , Pereira Gonçalo G. , Pesquero João Bosco , Rodrigues Vanderlei , Rogatto Silvia R. , da Silva Ismael D. C. G. , Sogayar Mari C. , Sonati Maria de Fátima , Tajara Eloiza H. , Valentini Sandro R. , Alberto Fernando L. , Amaral Maria Elisabete J. , Aneas Ivy , Arnaldi Liliane A. T. , de Assis Angela M. , Bengtson Mário Henrique , Bergamo Nadia Aparecida , Bombonato Vanessa , de Camargo Maria E. R. , Canevari Renata A. , Carraro Dirce M. , Cerutti Janete M. , Corrêa Maria Lucia C. , Corrêa Rosana F. R. , Costa Maria Cristina R. , Curcio Cyntia , Hokama Paula O. M. , Ferreira Ari J. S. , Furuzawa Gilberto K. , Gushiken Tsieko , Ho Paulo L. , Kimura Elza , Krieger José E. , Leite Luciana C. C. , Majumder Paromita , Marins Mozart , Marques Everaldo R. , Melo Analy S. A. , Melo Monica , Mestriner Carlos Alberto , Miracca Elisabete C. , Miranda Daniela C. , Nascimento Ana Lucia T. O. , Nóbrega Francisco G. , Ojopi Élida P. B. , Pandolfi José Rodrigo C. , Pessoa Luciana G. , Prevedel Aline C. , Rahal Paula , Rainho Claudia A. , Reis Eduardo M. R. , Ribeiro Marcelo L. , da Rós Nancy , de Sá Renata G. , Sales Magaly M. , Sant'anna Simone Cristina , dos Santos Mariana L. , da Silva Aline M. , da Silva Neusa P. , Silva Wilson A. , da Silveira Rosana A. , Sousa Josane F. , Stecconi Daniella , Tsukumo Fernando , Valente Valéria , Soares Fernando , Moreira Eloisa S. , Nunes Diana N. , Correa Ricardo G. , Zalcberg Heloisa , Carvalho Alex F. , Reis Luis F. L. , Brentani Ricardo R. , Simpson Andrew J. G. , de Souza Sandro J. 
Published: July 2002

Open reading frame expressed sequences tags (ORESTES) differ from conventional ESTs by providing sequence data from the central protein coding portion of transcripts. We generated a total of 696,745 ORESTES sequences from 24 human tissues and used a subset of the data that correspond to a set of 15,095 full-length mRNAs as a means of assessing the efficiency of the strategy and its potential contribution to the definition of the human transcriptome. We estimate that ORESTES sampled over 80% of all highly and moderately expressed, and between 40% and 50% of rarely expressed, human genes. In our most thoroughly sequenced tissue, the breast, the 130,000 ORESTES generated are derived from transcripts from an estimated 70% of all genes expressed in that tissue, with an equally efficient representation of both highly and poorly expressed genes. In this respect, we find that the capacity of the ORESTES strategy both for gene discovery and shotgun transcript sequence generation significantly exceeds that of conventional ESTs. The distribution of ORESTES is such that many human transcripts are now represented by a scaffold of partial sequences distributed along the length of each gene product. The experimental joining of the scaffold components, by reverse transcription–PCR, represents a direct route to transcript finishing that may represent a useful alternative to full-length cDNA cloning.