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AAT Bioquest

What are the limitations of DNA microarrays?

Posted September 11, 2024


Answer

Microarrays are sufficient at spotting large genetic changes, but they might miss smaller changes, such as tiny insertions or deletions. This means that some rare diseases caused by these smaller changes might not be detected. Another limitation is that microarrays usually focus on coding regions of genes, but non-coding regions are not as closely monitored. Thus, critical genetic changes in these non-coding regions might be undetected. A third limitation is that microarrays use specific probes to find known genetic variations. If a genetic variant is new or not included in the probe set, the microarray might not detect it. Additionally, these probes create inflexibility and microarrays may not adapt quickly to new discoveries in genetic research. Another limitation of microarrays is that they provide an indirect estimate of relative concentrations. The signal at each spot on a microarray is generally thought to represent the concentration of a specific substance that binds to that position. However, because the hybridization process doesn’t always follow a straightforward linear relationship, the signal intensity may not accurately reflect the true concentration of the substance. DNA microarrays are also very time-consuming as they analyze large sets of data. 

Additional resources

DNA microarrays: Types, Applications and their future

Gene Expression Analysis & Genotyping

Helixyte™ Green Fluorimetric dsDNA Quantitation Kit *Optimized for Broad Dynamic Range*

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