Discovering the Genome
1) Start by opening the GTEx Portal Gene Page (http://www.gtexportal.org/home/gene/) in your web browser.
2) Enter the gene symbol "DMRT1" in the top right corner of the screen. Make sure that you do not leave any spaces after the end of the gene name.
3) Press enter to search for DMRT1. In this case, there is only one gene matching this search. If there were multiple genes, you would need to select a specific gene from the list returned by the search.
4) Scroll down until you find the graph of DMRT1’s gene expression. In this graph, the x-axis lists each of the tissues, and the y-axis represents the level of expression for the gene. The higher the number on the y-axis, the more copies of RNA from DMRT1 are in a given tissue. In this case, DMRT1 is highly expressed in testes but not anywhere else. This makes sense, given that DMRT1 plays a crucial role in the development and function of the male reproductive system.
5) The GTEx portal also allows us to compare gene expression between males and females. To toggle this option, click the "Gender" button under "Differentiation."
6) Now, gene expression data from all the male samples are displayed in blue, while the female expression data are displayed in red. Notice that for DMRT1, we only see expression in the male samples. Again, we expect this, given DMRT1's role in the male reproductive system.
