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<p><b>Microarrays - a Revolution in Life Science</b></p> |
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<p>It is widely believed that thousands of genes and their protein products function |
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in a complicated and orchestrated way that creates the mystery of life. However, |
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traditional methods in molecular biology (Northern Blot, RT-PCR, nuclease protection |
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assays) generally work on a "one gene in one experiment" basis, which means |
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that the "big" picture of gene function is hard to obtain.</p> |
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<p>A new technology, called DNA microarrays (gene chips), promises to monitor |
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the whole genome on a single chip so that researchers can have a better picture |
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of the interactions among thousands of genes simultaneously. This technology |
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allows high-throughput sequence recognition and gene expression analysis. The |
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high density of nucleic acid sequences can be spotted in a small area to which |
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labeled nucleic acid probes (radioactively- or fluorescently labeled) corresponding |
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to total cellular mRNA are hybridized. A sample gene expression pattern is obtained |
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by analyzing the signal at each spot and comparing it to the signal intensity |
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of the control sample. Using DNA microarrays, one can compare the expression |
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of multiple genes in different tissues, developmental stages, normal and diseased |
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states or cells subjected to different drugs.</p> |
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<p>The extraordinary power of DNA microarrays will have a strong impact on medicine |
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in the near future both in the molecular characterization of diseases and in |
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drug discovery and evaluation, and it is to be expected that quantitative applications |
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will soon spread through all fields of life sciences.</p> |
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<p align="center"><img src="p/OKrnd_ljudi_3.jpg" width="300" height="193" border=1></p> |