Ann. Méd. Vét., 2005, 149 (2), pp 93-116 Principles of DNA microarrays and potential applications in veterinary sciencesTHOMAS A., CLOSSET R., BUREAU F., LEKEUX P.Abstract :
Microarray technology is a miniaturized biotechnological tool with potential applications for study and analysis of multiple molecular compounds as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates or nucleic acids.
The nucleic acids microarray technology focuses interest of scientists for fifteen years because of its huge potential as regard to the scientific research, clinical diagnosis, and development of new drugs.
Only DNA microarrays are investigated in this paper. Born from the conjunction of micro-electronics, biochemistry, molecular biology, and image processing, microarrays allow to analyse several thousands of genetic information simultaneously.
Thanks to this new tool, it is possible in parallel to identify, to even proportion, a considerable number of nucleic acid sequences contained in a biological sample (blood, biopsy, water, food, etc).
This article proposes, after having considered the operating mode of the microarrays, to understand their quality standards as well as their advantages and disadvantages.
The two following parts are devoted to the place the microarrays occupy in scientific research and in the establishment of a clinical diagnosis. Finally the last part evaluates prospects the microarrays offer in veterinary sciences. Get the PDF Contact person : pierre.lekeux@ulg.ac.be |