Whole-transcriptome sequencing has far reaching effects in both clinical and preclinical applications. As a foundation for basic sciences, RNA-Seq continues to impart a deeper appreciation for the vast transcriptional structure of genes and quantification of transcript expression throughout differing cells, tissues, and species. Although still in the early stages of use, RNA-Seq can monitor spatial organization of the transcriptome (Lee et al., 2014) and extract some of the subtle expression differences induced by individual neurons and their microenvironments (Lovatt et al., 2014). With psychiatric illnesses representing one of the most challenging areas of medicine, sophisticated tools such as those furnished by deep sequencing technologies are essential for deciphering all of the converging elements that orchestrate these diseases.
