Half-life calculation

RNA half-lives can be calculated with HALO using an exponential decay model either for individual replicates or ratios averaged across all replicates. Three possible methods exist for the calculation of half-lives, based on the newly transcribed/total RNA, pre-existing/total RNA and the newly transcribed/pre-existing RNA ratios, respectively. Among these, the method based on newly transcribed (=labeled) to total RNA ratio has an overall high accuracy, while the method using pre-existing/total RNA shows high precision for short transcripts, while being unreliable for medium-to-long-lived transcripts (Friedel and Döken, 2008). The ratio of newly transcribed to pre-existing RNA as a method combines the good properties of the two other calculation methods.


HALO documentation