Bioinformatics Advance Access originally published online on March 23, 2007
Bioinformatics 2007 23(10):1235-1242; doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btm111
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Using DNA microarrays to study gene expression in closely related species
1Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Vic 3050, Australia and 2Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.
| Abstract |
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Motivation: Comparisons of gene expression levels within and between species have become a central tool in the study of the genetic basis for phenotypic variation, as well as in the study of the evolution of gene regulation. DNA microarrays are a key technology that enables these studies. Currently, however, microarrays are only available for a small number of species. Thus, in order to study gene expression levels in species for which microarrays are not available, researchers face three sets of choices: (i) use a microarray designed for another species, but only compare gene expression levels within species, (ii) construct a new microarray for every species whose gene expression profiles will be compared or (iii) build a multi-species microarray with probes from each species of interest. Here, we use data collected using a multi-primate cDNA array to evaluate the reliability of each approach.
Results: We find that, for inter-species comparisons, estimates of expression differences based on multi-species microarrays are more accurate than those based on multiple species-specific arrays. We also demonstrate that within-species expression differences can be estimated using a microarray for a closely related species, without discernible loss of information.
Contact: A.O. (oshlack{at}wehi.edu.au) or Y.G. (gilad{at}uchicago.edu)
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Associate Editor: Martin Bishop
Received on January 9, 2006; revised on February 25, 2007; accepted on March 14, 2007