Nucleic Acids

Sequencing & Microarrays

Sequencing is used in molecular biology to study genomes & the proteins they convert. Information obtained using sequencing allows researchers to identify changes in genes, associations with diseases and phenotypes, and identify potential drug targets.

A microarray is a laboratory tool used to detect the expression of thousands of genes at the same time. DNA microarrays are microscope slides that are printed with thousands of tiny spots in defined positions, with each spot containing a known DNA sequence or gene. Often, these slides are referred to as gene chips or DNA chips. The DNA molecules attached to each slide act as probes to detect gene expression, which is also known as the transcriptome or the set of messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts expressed by a group of genes.