DNA microarray: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:46, 1 July 2003

Revision as of 16:53, 1 July 2003

Line 1:

A '''DNA microarray''' (also '''DNA chip''' or ''gene chip'' in common speech) is a piece of [[glass]] or [[plastic]] on which single-stranded pieces of [[DNA]] have been affixed in a microscopic array. Machines use such chips to simultaneously screen a single biological sample for the presence of many [[genetic sequence]]s at once. The affixed DNA piecessegments are known as '''probes.'''

Because the name '''"GeneChip"''' is trademarked by [[Affymetrix]], microarray users tend to speak and write about "gene chips" only in reference to theAffymetrix chips Affymetrix makes. BroughtMade to marketavailable in [[1996]], thesegene chips were the first arrays to come into use. TheyGenerically they are referred to genericallyknown as '''oligonucleotide arrays,''' because the probes they use are short segments of DNA about 10 to 50 [[nucleotide]]s long.

"Microarray" refers not only to GeneChips but also to chips that use much longer probe sequences, such as the entire [[gene]]s that may be contained on [[cDNA]]s. Because, Affymetrix owns a [[patent]] both on the use of oligonucleotide probes as well as on a means to affix them to chips, microarrays not made by Affymetrix are manufactured by a different technique that is non-proprietary.