Shiu S-H, Borevitz J O
Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Heredity (Edinb). 2008 Feb;100(2):141-9. doi: 10.1038/sj.hdy.6800916. Epub 2006 Nov 8.
Microarray technology is one of the key developments in recent years that has propelled biological research into the post-genomic era. With the ability to assay thousands to millions of features at the same time, microarray technology has fundamentally changed how biological questions are addressed, from examining one or a few genes to a collection of genes or the whole genome. This technology has much to offer in the study of genome evolution. After a brief introduction on the technology itself, we then focus on the use of microarrays to examine genome dynamics, to uncover novel functional elements in genomes, to unravel the evolution of regulatory networks, to identify genes important for behavioral and phenotypic plasticity, and to determine microbial community diversity in environmental samples. Although there are still practical issues in using microarrays, they will be alleviated by rapid advances in array technology and analysis methods, the availability of many genome sequences of closely related species and flexibility in array design. It is anticipated that the application of microarray technology will continue to better our understanding of evolution and ecology through the examination of individuals, populations, closely related species or whole microbial communities.
微阵列技术是近年来推动生物学研究进入后基因组时代的关键进展之一。微阵列技术能够同时检测数千到数百万个特征，从研究一个或几个基因转变为研究一组基因或整个基因组，从根本上改变了生物学问题的研究方式。这项技术在基因组进化研究中具有很大的应用价值。在简要介绍该技术本身之后，我们将重点关注微阵列在以下方面的应用：研究基因组动态变化、揭示基因组中的新功能元件、解析调控网络的进化、鉴定对行为和表型可塑性重要的基因，以及确定环境样本中微生物群落的多样性。尽管在使用微阵列时仍存在一些实际问题，但随着阵列技术和分析方法的快速发展、许多近缘物种基因组序列的可得性以及阵列设计的灵活性，这些问题将得到缓解。预计微阵列技术的应用将通过对个体、种群、近缘物种或整个微生物群落的研究，继续加深我们对进化和生态学的理解。
