Overview of mRNA expression profiling using DNA microarrays

DNA microarray technology allows simultaneous measurement of the mRNA levels of thousands of genes. This powerful technology has applications in addressing many biological questions that were not approachable previously; however, the enormous size of microarray data sets leads to issues of experimental design and statistical analysis that are unfamiliar to many molecular biologists. The type of array used, the design of the biological experiment, the number of experimental replicates, and the statistical method for data analysis should all be chosen based on the scientific goals of the investigator. This overview presents a discussion of the relative merits and limitations of various methods with respect to some common applications of microarray experiments.