Draghici Sorin, Khatri Purvesh, Eklund Aron C, Szallasi Zoltan
Department of Computer Science, Wayne State University, 431 State Hall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
Trends Genet. 2006 Feb;22(2):101-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2005.12.005. Epub 2005 Dec 27.
DNA microarrays enable researchers to monitor the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. However, the current technology has several limitations. Here we discuss problems related to the sensitivity, accuracy, specificity and reproducibility of microarray results. The existing data suggest that for relatively abundant transcripts the existence and direction (but not the magnitude) of expression changes can be reliably detected. However, accurate measurements of absolute expression levels and the reliable detection of low abundance genes are difficult to achieve. The main problems seem to be the sub-optimal design or choice of probes and some incorrect probe annotations. Well-designed data-analysis approaches can rectify some of these problems.
DNA微阵列使研究人员能够同时监测数千个基因的表达情况。然而，当前技术存在若干局限性。在此，我们讨论与微阵列结果的敏感性、准确性、特异性和可重复性相关的问题。现有数据表明，对于相对丰富的转录本，表达变化的存在和方向（但不是幅度）能够被可靠地检测到。然而，绝对表达水平的精确测量以及低丰度基因的可靠检测难以实现。主要问题似乎在于探针的设计欠佳或选择不当以及一些错误的探针注释。精心设计的数据分析方法能够纠正其中一些问题。
