MICRO-ARRAYS
MICRO-ARRAYS
A micro-array is a laboratory tool used to detect the expression of thousands of genes at the same time. DNA micro-arrays are microscope slides that are printed with thousands of tiny spots in defined positions, with each spot containing a known DNA sequence or gene. The sample spot sizes are typically less than 200 microns in diameter and usually contain thousands of spots.
Thousands of spotted samples known as probes are immobilized on a solid support for example a microscope glass slides or silicon chips or nylon membrane. The spots can be DNA, cDNA, or oligonucleotides. These are used to determine complementary binding of the unknown sequences thus allowing parallel analysis for gene expression and gene discovery. An experiment with a single DNA chip can provide information on thousands of genes simultaneously. An orderly arrangement of the probes on the support is important as the location of each spot on the array is used for the identification of a gene. Micro-arrays are used in Disease Diagnosis, Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery and Toxicological Resear
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