Preparations of RNA containing an mRNA of interest are hybridized to a complementary single-stranded DNA probe. At the end of the reaction period, nuclease S1 is used to degrade unhybridized regions of the probe, and the surviving DNA-RNA hybrids are then separated by gel electrophoresis and visualized by either autoradiography or Southern hybridization. The method can be used to quantify RNAs, to map the positions of introns and to identify the locations of 5′ and 3′ ends of mRNAs on cloned DNA templates1,2,3.