CONTENTS Gene chips

Fragmented, biotinylated RNA prepared in this manner was hybridized to the array and the signal developed using streptavidin-R-phycoerytherin. A confocal laser scanner was used for detection. The researchers estimated that they could detect two transcripts per cell based upon labeling efficiency and an estimated 4% mRNA content in total bacterial RNA. Thus, chip detection of labeled transcripts was found to be more sensitive than detection by Northern blot. Specific genes (e.g., basal levels of cinA) undetectable on Northern blots were quantifiable on the microarray. In addition, it was... 

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